"I didn't expect to see you here until after the show," Duke's voice called out from behind them.
They each turned to take in the costumed boy, looking half prepared for the night's event in his signature vest and loose pants.
"Where are the others?" Duke asked hesitantly
"Change of plans," Kaiba started. "Is there some place we can talk?"
"Sure" Duke said his posture less relaxed now at Kaiba's grave tone.
Duke's makeshift office turned out to be as good a place as any on short notice.
"Mokuba has been missing for twenty four hours now. I heard you'd spoken to him recently about business matters and wanted to know if you had any information that could help us track him down." Kaiba sped out. His eyes looked unusually tense, likely questioning his hopes at this point, pondered Jounouchi.
"Shit, that's awful" retorted Duke. I'm not sure how much this will help but he was asking me a lot about transactions and how to keep them private. I thought maybe he just wanted his own space or something. He also seemed pretty excited about a trip to Florida. Do you know about it?"
At that very moment, Kaiba's phone beeped, …as did Jounouchi's, and Duke's- at the exact same time.
A message from Mokuba flashed on the screen.
Kaiba didn't hesitate to open it, but when he did, he wished he had, because his stomach bottomed out faster than he'd thought possible.
"Dear Nii-sama and friends, I've gone away for some time to get some space. Things aren't going well right now at home. I'll see you when thing seem better. Love, Mokuba."
Standing backstage at an event Mokuba and he were suppose to both be at, Kaiba Seto took in the words befor him.
Mokuba was alive. Mokuba was not hurt, physically anyway. And he wasn't happy, at home. The words struck like a chord in his heart and an unfamiliar feeling of guilt and shame that he could have failed his younger brother somehow, stirred. He was sure his slack jawed expression was some indication to the two boys who looked at him with concern and worry now. Surely this was a trick.
"What's going on, Kaiba?!" Jounouchi shouted, closing in on the taller man, "Sounds like you haven't been keeping Mokuba as safe as you should. What've you been doing?" he interrogated as he continued.
The fight came back to Kaiba at the notion. Though he knew it only came from the very concern that drove him to seek them out for help. "Nothing! I would never touch Mokuba! I.." and the words failed him now. "I'm not sure what's going on." He finished, truly sounding at a loss.
And Duke and Jounouchi had to admit, the thought was absurd. They knew how much Mokua and the older Kaiba meant to one another. But they also knew of the older Kaiba's past, and the closed off heart he kept as a result.
A hollow feeling settled inside Jounouchi as he pictured the young boy alone somewhere trying to lick his apparent wounds. Whatever was going on between the Kaiba brothers had gotten to Mokuba badly.
"Well we gotta find out what it is" insisted Jounouchi firmly. Someone doesn't just run away like this. Something really got to him and if you're not going to tell us, we'll have to ask him ourselves."
Kaiba dared look superior for a moment despite his clear distress as he said "you've been enough help, Jounouchi. Mokuba is still out there and it isn't safe for him to be running around unguarded. Then in a rare show of vulnerability, "I just wish he'd come to me first…"
"Well you might want to hold off on separating so fast, Kaiba. After what Duke just emphasized, I think I might have a hunch where he is, and if I know upset siblings, he may not want to be talking to you right now." Jounouchi returned steadily.
Thankfully, Kaiba had the good sense to not disagree this time.
Instead he asked "What did you think of?"
Jounouchi looked unsure for a moment, but then he proceeded with more confidence. "He's gotta be at the new apartments we drove by after our meet up, Magic Mansions. He was telling me how they're modeled after the ones in Orlando, Florida. He mentioned wanting to stay there one day. I think he might have done it, judging by the way he was so eager to tour them. I thought he might just be excited for the trip, but something's telling me otherwise. He seemed really set on staying there. Otherwise, you're second bet would be to see if he already whizzed off to Florida. But even though this apartment complex seems like a long shot, I think it's worth it."
After having received what was likely the most devastating message he could think of thus far, Kaiba wasn't turning down options.
Mokuba and he had been inseparable for so long. How could he have disappeared and Kaiba not know it? They'd been through so much together. Admittedly the kid had an unusual amount of responsibility. Maybe it had all become too much…
"Alright, let's go," Kaiba nodded to Jounouchi; and turning to Duke "not a word" he warned.
Duke made the universal signal for lips sealed as they started on their way to Magic Mansions.
Once at the high end apartment complex, getting past security for Kaiba Seto was easy enough, facing the room that Kaiba Mokuba could in fact be in was another matter. Jounouchi knew how tough it could be to face an upset sibling. But apparently for Kaiba, it was no trouble.
He appeared eager for this fiasco to be behind them, as much as he did to hopefully see his little brother, when he knocked firmly on the door.
It wasn't until Kaiba called out, that a huff and audible click of the lock could be heard as Kaiba Mokuba opened the door to face his older brother, and to his visible surprise, Jounouchi-kun.