Author's Note: Thanks again for all the reviews. Biskittins got another one right! Yugi will be dueling in the finale even though I have not brought him into the story yet. That leaves two more people to guess. Come on! Don't be shy!
Chapter 7 Christmas Dinner
Seto Kaiba and his family arrived home to the delightful smells of Christmas Dinner. Amanda, their cook, greeted them cheerfully at the door. She had been cooking all day and enjoying the company of her family, who had been invited to partake in the festivities in the Kaiba's second luxurious dining room. Therefore, Amanda was clueless about what had happened that morning.
"So, where is the little prince?" Amanda asked.
"Oh no!" Serenity gasped, "We completely forgot that we were supposed to go to the orphanage this afternoon!"
"Relax, we'll get him tomorrow," Seto said, "I gave the orphanage a substantial donation requesting that they hold all incoming infants for ten days until further notice. We can get him tomorrow."
"Yes, but how are we supposed to know which one to get without…" Serenity stopped herself short of saying Joan's pseudonym out loud. Joan was supposed to help Seto and Serenity identify Sean's clone at the orphanage, but obviously that plan was no longer practical.
"We'll take all of them home, run DNA tests, and then decide which one to keep," Seto said.
"Oh." Serenity responded simply.
They stood in silence for a moment, and then the doorbell rang. Janet opened the door and exclaimed, "Uncle Joey! We didn't know you were coming!"
"Yeah, I'm here with Rebecca," Joey said, "We came as fast as we could. Hey, where's Mokuba and Kari?"
"Kari should be here tonight. Mokuba… may take a little longer," Seto said distantly.
"What's wrong?" Amanda asked.
"Look on the news and you'll find out," Seto replied, "I don't want to waste my time explaining it."
"Wait," said Rebecca, "The news has it all wrong. Let me explain it, By the way, you'll probably want to hear this sitting down."
"OK," said Amanda, "Why don't you all come in and we'll talk about it over dinner? It might get cold otherwise."
Serenity looked worried, but kept a cool head about the matter. "Amanda, why don't you and your family—the older ones—join Seto, Joey, and Rebecca in the main dining room? I'll watch the little ones in the second dining room." She grabbed Sarah and Janet's hands and led them away.
"Aw mom," Janet whined, "Why can't I stay with Father?"
"Because there are strange things happening and the grown-ups need to have a discussion," Serenity explained.
"Don't leave us, Seto!" Sarah cried as Serenity pulled the children through a door and out of sight.
"Did she just call you by your first name?" wondered Rebecca.
Joey opened his mouth, but Seto beat him to the punch. "Don't ask. She's a precocious little girl. It's probably just a phase."
"All right," said Rebecca, "Let's get settled. I have a lot to tell you."
Joey, Seto, Amanda, and Rebecca headed to the main dining room where their meal was already waiting. They were joined by the rest of Amanda's family, who sat down solemnly. They had been warned by Serenity to do disclose too much about their relationships with each other, and introduced themselves by their first names only. Luckily, Rebecca wasn't too keen on making small talk. She immediately launched into a detailed description of the day's events.
While Rebecca talked, Seto thought about Mokuba. Mokuba had been kidnapped many times, but never flat-out arrested. However, it amounted to the same old problem. Mokuba was being held captive and Seto needed to save him. Seto contemplated challenging the jail guard to a duel, but somehow he didn't think that would be enough to set his brother free. Seto sighed and tuned back into Rebecca's monologue.
Rebecca recited her entire Architectural History term paper from memory. Then, she described in detail how the Industrial Illusions building was constructed and compared its architecture with that of the Empire State building. Industrial Illusions was newer, and Pegasus had taken advantage of the best construction materials available. Rebecca stressed several times that is was unthinkable for a single airplane to demolish the structure. "And so," she concluded, "There must have been a series of carefully-placed explosives in the Industrial Illusions building. I want to find out how they got there and set the media straight."
"Good luck with that," said Seto, "Noel isn't responsible, and they currently have no means of finding out who did it."
"How do you know?" asked Rebecca.
"Noel headquarters has been destroyed. It's probably on the news by now. You all can go watch it. I'm going to make a few phone calls. Those government bastards have Mokuba, and I'm not going to sit around waiting anymore." Seto stood abruptly and left the room, leaving everyone else stunned.
