Chapter 26

'Timing is a great thing, isn't it lus braysta?' Tristan couldn't help but smirk, as Mokuba somehow managed to arrive back from his trip to Duel Academy just as he was arriving back from work.

'Tell me about it,' his brother-in-law rolled his pale blue eyes, 'I would have been back here hours ago, but SK kept disappeared and everything got set about three hours behind.'

'You never got round to explaining why you took him with you.'

'Yeah, well I don't really need to,' he shrugged. 'So what's been happening round here whilst I've been gone?'

Tristan's smile instantly tightened. He'd not had time to tell Mokuba about his brother yet and it wasn't a conversation he was particularly looking forward to.

'He's blind.'

'Tell me something I don't know,' Mokuba gave a strange half sigh, 'as far as I'm concerned he's been blind since his vision hit thirty percent. You shouldn't have let him believe otherwise; you allowed him to fuel his denial and now it's going to hit him harder than ever.'

'As if anything I said to him would have made a difference.'

'At least you would have tried; after everything he'd done for you, you couldn't even do that for him,' Mokuba shot him a look, before sighing heavily and rubbing his face with his hands. 'I'm sorry, it's been a long couple of days and I have a feeling its all about to get worse.'

'How so?'

'Remember I told you that SK kept disappearing on me? Well the last time he came back he finally told me Drake had gone missing. And the reason SK's not here with me now, is because Joey started calling him over something.'

'Sounds like a storms about to hit.'

'As if our lives have ever been completely storm free,' he shrugged, 'so another one's about to hit; we'll deal with it, isn't that what we always do?'

It was more painful than he'd expected; hiding in plain sight, watching his parents drive themselves frantic with worry. But no matter how genuine their pain appeared he couldn't allow himself to be seen by them, if he did... if he did he might lose the nerve he needed to go with Taylor tomorrow and he'd promised...

Carefully he positioned himself on the couch next to his Mum, hoping she wouldn't feel the pressure he was creating there. He then watched as she agitatedly waited for his Dad to return. Her face showed a level of concern he'd never seen before and even though it deeply affected him, he still couldn't bring himself to let her see him. Knowing you were an accident was one thing, but knowing your Mum had planned on killing you was another. It hurt. It hurt more than he'd care to admit. It hurt so much it fuelled whatever anger was left in him, making his decision to help Taylor that much more defined in his mind and yet...

'Any luck,' his Mum practically leapt off of the couch the second his Dad entered.

'None.'

'Joey called whilst you were out; apparently something's going on at the Southern Palace, but the second I told him Lus was missing he said it could wait. At least until we find him.'

'But what if it's connected?'

'That's exactly what I said, but he was pretty certain it wasn't and I believe him.'

'But what if it is connected somehow, I mean, Lus knew…' his face crumpled slightly. 'I know how much you were hurt by it. I know how much you wish you could go back and love him from the offset, but Téa, it's not your fault,' he pulled her into a hug. 'I'm worried. I want to know how he found out. Could he have overheard you talking about it?'

'Yugi,' his Mum pulled away from him, clearly offended, 'I never talk about it, you know that.'

'I just wanted to make sure.'

'Well be sure. However he found out, it wasn't from me.'

'Who then? Who would have told him something like that?'

'Someone who knew how much it would hurt,' she folded her arms. 'I certainly wouldn't put it past Kaiba.'

'I thought the two of you had gotten past your differences after...'

'We have, but you and I both know he's been acting out lately. If he's not wallowing in his own misery he's trying to make everyone around him miserable. Plus it doesn't take a lot to offend him these days.'

'True, but... Kaiba's been taking everything out on us adults, not on the kids. He's never done anything to upset them and I don't see why he would start now.'

'And I don't see who else would,' she shook her head, 'and you and I both know he couldn't have come to that conclusion on his own. Someone had to have told him.'

'That's what I'm worried about.'

'What do you mean?'

'What if it wasn't someone we knew, what if it was someone who wanted to manipulate him into using his gift for them?'

Lus's heart suddenly leapt in fear. His father was right, that is exactly why Nayta had told him about his Mum. Why hadn't he seen that before? Or maybe he had and he just hadn't wanted to admit it, because it gave him an excuse for everything that was about to happen. He couldn't take it anymore. To the clear shock of his parents, he appeared before them.

'I'm sorry,' the words wailed miserably out of him, 'I'm sorry!'

'It's okay,' his Mum threw her arms around him, 'we're not mad at you, I promise.'

'Where have you been,' his Dad's voice was filled with cautious concern.

'I went to Taylor's, but I didn't stay long,' he sniffed, 'then I came back here. I just…'

'I understand,' his Mum continued to hold him, 'you learnt a terrible thing and it upset you.'

'I'm sorry,' his eyes brimmed with tears.

'For what?'

'For everything…' he averted his gaze and took a deep jagged breath, 'for everything that I'm about to do next.'

'What?' His Dad stared at him.

'Taylor convinced me to come back here, but now I wish he hadn't. Because now I… I'm just so mixed up. I don't know what I want anymore. But I know I have to… I made a promise; I can't back out of it,' his eyes flicked fearfully between his parents. 'I'm sorry. I'm… I'm just so sorry.'

'Lus?'

'I'm sorry,' he pulled himself away from his mother and removed himself from his parents' sight, containing himself just enough to get outside of the room before bursting into tears. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' he repeated over and over. 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'

'Lus?' He heard the worried voices of his parents calling for him. 'Lus where are you?'

But he couldn't answer them. Not when he knew how close he was to betraying them. To betraying himself and everyone he cared about. Well almost everyone. As he rested his forehead against his arms, he reminded himself that he wasn't completely alone in this. No matter what Taylor and Arados were in the same boat he was. There was some comfort in that; he just wished it was enough to take away the sinking feeling of pain that was building inside of him.

'I'm sorry,' he breathed the words through sobs of tears, 'please... please… please forgive me.'