13 Truth Hurts
//Say a prayer for me//
//'Cause I can barely breathe//
//I'm suffering//
//And I can't take it//
//Because of me//
//No one will ever see//
//This side of me//
//If I don't make it//
//It's like I can't wake up//
//It's like I can't get up//
//It's like I can't remember who I used to be//
//Am I running from you//
//Or am I running from me?//
//Clear a path for me//
//'Cause I can barely see//
//I'm stumbling//
//And I can't shake it//
//It's up to me//
//To save myself from me//
//My enemy//
//But I can't face it//
Trust Company—"Running From Me"
Mokuba flicked off the Playstation 2 in his room and set down the controls, rubbing his stinging eyes.
Three hours of Watchtower Raimei. A new record.
The boy glanced up at his digital clock. 10:30 PM. He was also setting a waiting record. It had been three and a half hours.
*So far.*
Somewhere downstairs, a door opened. Mokuba heard hushed voices conversing hurriedly. Leaping up, he threw open his door and rushed down the stairs.
*Seto!*
"Mokuba."
Mokuba's smile faded as he saw who it was. "Midian...? Wh-where's Seto?"
"Whatever you do...tell him the truth..." Midian took a deep breath. He kept seeing what had happened just a half-hour ago...
"Where is he?" Mokuba repeated, his voice becoming panicked.
"There was an explosion." Campbell said quietly. The rest was understood...
Mokuba's dark-gray eyes dilated until they were almost black. He backed away from the twins until he hit the wall. He stood immobile, not believing what he had just heard. His face went pale and his lips moved, but no sound came. "T-tell me you're...kidding," he managed to whisper.
Midian tilted his head. "I...wish I could," he said softly.
"No." The boy shook his head. "No!"
Midian and Campbell exchanged a distressed glance. Disbelief. An expected reaction.
"He promised! He promised that he'd come back!" Mokuba's eyes were full of tears. "My big brother would never lie to me! Seto doesn't lie!"
Before either of the twins could stop him, the boy sprinted out the door, running from the mansion and down the street.
"Mokuba!" Midian moved to go after him, but Campbell held his arm.
"Let him go, Midian," she said, her voice strangely quiet. "He needs some time to...absorb all this, ya know." The girl glanced at the ground. "It's not every day that your niisama dies and leaves you his company and a fortune, anyway."
The black-haired teenager's body relaxed. "But he'll get lost..."
Campbell shook her head. "He won't. I have a good idea of where he's gone."
Midian looked back at the corner around which Mokuba had disappeared. "The graveyard."
****
He ran as if all hell had broken loose. He ran as if for his life. He ran like one gone mad. His feet took him faster and faster; past the Domino Museum, past Domino Elementary, past the Kame Game Shop, and down the floodlighted sidewalks.
No one will ever tear us apart.
*No one...* Tears began to stream down his face as he ducked to avoid a low-hanging branch. He streaked across a strangely crowded street, barely missing an oncoming truck. Panting hard, his lungs felt like they were on fire. He could scarcely breathe.
We'll be back soon. Got it, Mokuba?
The world around him blurred as tears fell more thickly. He could barely see, but he knew where he was going.
The graveyard.
The cemetery.
There was the street. He turned down it, ignoring the pain stabbing his short legs.
*Almost there...*
The trees...the big, white house...the park...then...
Every nerve in his body was shrieking for rest. His head swam.
*No. Ignore your pain. Just keep moving.*
Keep moving...
At this point, he didn't care if he ran himself to death. Anything to keep his mind diverted from what Midian had just told him.
The church...the gates...the cemetery...
He was there. He had survived. But he couldn't bring himself to stop. Racing through the neat rows of headstones, he threw himself down between a familiar pair.
One of the gravestones bore a death date identical to his birthday. The other's death date was three years after that...
He buried his head in his arms as he lay on his stomach, desperately trying to regain his breath. The soreness in his chest and legs intensified as his tears fell faster, mixing with the sweat on his face. His heart thundered so fiercely in his chest that he thought it would burst. His panicked breathing finally slowed, he recovered his sense of being...and his scattered memory as well.
You think I'd actually tell you?
Rolling onto his back between the gravestones of his parents, he stared up at the starry sky, his harsh sobs breaking the night's silence.
What if Noah separates us...like Gozaburo almost did? What will I do then?
No one will ever separate us, Mokuba.
Don't worry, little brother. I'll be back.
He promised...
"You promised, Seto!!" he screamed at the clear sky, half-expecting to be struck by lightning. He rose to his knees. Nothing happened. "You promised that no one would tear us apart...that you'd come back! Y-you promised, big brother! And you lied!!"
He pounded the gravestones with his fists until they were numb with pain. "You liar!"
Overcome by the knowledge of loneliness now that not even his brother was with him, he sank to the ground, crying his heart out.
The place was still.
Quiet.
He was alone.
Alone...
No, wait. He wasn't. Footsteps sounded behind him.
*Go away,* he silently yelled. *Leave me to die.*
But the person stooped down and picked him up.
Alarm racked his brain. He wildly struggled, kicking and screaming with what little energy he had left within him. Tears fell as if there was no end to them.
"Hey, hey," a familiar voice soothed. "Take it easy, kid."
He still wouldn't stop. "Let me go, Midian!" he cried. "You're hurting me! Put me down, and let me die!"
In spite of the boy's flailing arms and legs, Midian drew him close.
"You're not going to die anytime soon, Mokuba," he said, forcing steadiness into his voice. A fist caught him in the stomach. "Not while you have this much energy, anyway. Now stay still or else!"
Silenced by the sternness in the older boy's voice, Mokuba's sobbing quieted. Suddenly realizing how tired he was, the black-haired boy closed his eyes. Gently, Midian carried the still boy back the way they had come.
"I know it's gonna be hard, Mokuba-kun," he murmured. "But sometime after this, you're going to have to pick up your life and...move on."
Mokuba sniffled. "But...h-he was my...brother..."
"I know," Midian said softly. "He was mine, too."