Chapter 11: Blame

Joey, Téa, Tristan, and Yugi sat in the terminal, waiting to leave. They were all lost in their own thoughts about what was currently happening. None of them could believe this. Here they were, four high school students, about to go to Egypt and find some ancient artifact that no one had any idea of where it may be! Talk about pressure. They had to find this thing, use its powers, and save Mokuba. Hadn't he been through enough already with his brother's death? Poor Mokuba. He didn't deserve any of this. Suddenly, Joey broke them all from their thoughts.

"Dude, I just thought of something!" he cried. "We don't have any tickets!"

"Joey's right," gasped Téa. "How are we going to get to Egypt without a ticket to get onto the plane?"

"Just calm down, guys," said Yugi. "I'll see what I can do."

Yugi was about to get up when a tall man in a clean and crisp suit walked up to them.

"Can we help you?" asked Joey.

"Come with me," he said in a monotonous voice.

The four friends looked at each other, and agreed to go with him. They followed quietly behind him as he led them to a private jet.

"Whoa, is dat the one we're ridin' in?" asked Joey.

"Yes," the man answered. "Ishizu told us about you. She said that you needed to get to Egypt to find the Book of Light. I hope you are very successful."

"Thank you," said Yugi.

"It is time to leave. Let's go."

The gang followed the man to their jet. Once they were all situated inside, the jet took off and they were on their way.

Back at Kaiba Corp, Mokuba finally walked back into the office.

"I called all the employees. They're on their way."

"Good," answered Natalie.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Why would I tell you that? Do you think I would really trust you with that sort of information?"

Mokuba shook his head, trying not to show his fear.

"You are correct," she smirked.

"What should I do?"

"You should jump off the top of the building and die, but I'm not finished with you yet."

"Natalie..."

Instantly, she whipped out the whip and struck him in the side. She smiled as he cried out in pain.

I told you that you aren't allowed to address me by my first name."

"I...I'm sorry," he choked out.

"Awww, are you going to cry?"

Mokuba didn't answer her. After a few more moments she struck him on the other side.

"I believe I asked you a question. If I ask you something, it requires an answer!"

"I...I might," he squeaked.

"I'll bet I know what you want right about now," she said.

Mokuba looked up at her, pain etched deeply into his features.

"You want your big brother to come and save you," she said.

Mokuba looked away, the feeling of tears stinging at his eyes even more.

"But he isn't going to come this time, is he? Is he?"

"N-no."

"That's right. Seto can't come to your rescue anymore. If I were him, I'd be happy to be dead. I wouldn't have to save your sorry ass every time danger arose. But that's just me. Maybe your pathetic and useless brother liked saving you."

Tears started to fall from Mokuba eyes at her words.

"Awww, do you not like me talking that way about your brother? Well, I'm going to tell you the truth about him. He was a sorry excuse of a person. He had no real reason to live. He would have been a fool to have ever actually cared about someone like you, and should have died long before any of this happened."

"No," said Mokuba quietly.

"Everyone else in the world has forgotten all about Seto Kaiba. No one cares that he's gone. What's taking you so long to realize he was a heartless, power-hungry, soulless, emotionless, workaholic? He didn't have time in his busy schedule to even remotely care about you or any other living thing!"

"Stop!" cried Mokuba. "You don't know my big brother! He loved me!"

"He put up with you because you were the next heir to Kaiba Corporation."

"I didn't want it, and he said that was fine!"

"And who would have taken over this company after him then?"

"I..I don't know..."

"Did you think he would have actually gone out and gotten himself a wife and have a kid? He would have forced you into it when you were old enough! He isn't the type of person to just go out and fall in love!"

"Seto could have been when he got older! You can't say those things about him!"

"I can say whatever I want about him. Everyone else thinks the same. I could ask anyone and they would agree with me, and you know it. You know that they're telling the truth. Why don't you just accept it?"

"Because they don't know Seto. They only judge him by the way he acts towards the public. They would say differently if they ever got to know him."

"And why would they want to get to know someone like him? If they did judge him by the way he acted toward the public, then wouldn't that keep people away?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But nothing. Your brother wanted to keep people away. That was how he wanted his life to be. He wanted to be a lonely and bitter person."

"He wasn't lonely or bitter."

"Oh. You think that because you were there he wasn't lonely? Well, that doesn't mean anything. Maybe you weren't lonely, but do you have any idea of the things your brother felt? Did he ever tell you?"

"No."

"Exactly. You can't tell yourself that he felt a certain way to make yourself feel better. That's not how it works. You know the truth. He didn't love you. He loved his work."

"Y...you're lying," cried Mokuba.

"If he really loved you, why did he barely spend any time with you? If he truly cared about his little brother, he would have been there instead of drowning himself in his precious work."

Mokuba thought about her words. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Is what she saying really true? There was the chance that it was, but what if it wasn't? Mokuba knew it wasn't true. Seto did love him. He knew he did. But he felt like she brought up a good point. If Seto did care about him, why did he work so much that they barely saw each other? The tears started flowing down his face again. Could Mokuba have been alone before his brother died? Were all his happy memories lies? Were all the promises that his brother made? No. Mokuba and Seto's lives hadn't been perfect, but they were always there for each other. Didn't that mean that they loved each other? What if Seto had been just using him? It made him hurt even more thinking that his brother never really cared about him.

"What do you think about him now, Mokuba?" asked Natalie.

Mokuba kept on crying.

"I asked you a question!"

"I don't know!"

"I need a straightforward answer."

"I don't have one!"

"Everyone has their answer to what they think! Tell me yours!"

"I don't know right now!"

"Yes, you do. Look inside your heart and find the answer!"

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can. It doesn't matter what you think about him now, Mokuba. He's dead. Do you think he cared about you?"

"N-no," answered Mokuba. What! What was he saying?

"Really? That's very interesting. What else? Do you really think you made him happy?"

"No," Mokuba sobbed. Why was he saying this? He felt horrible.

"If you knew he was going to turn out the way he did, would you have wanted to go with him when Gozaburo adopted you?"

"Prob...probably not," he squeaked. No! Why couldn't he stop himself from saying these things?

"Do you still love him?"

Mokuba hesitated before answering her. What was he going to say now? Of course he still loved Seto! Nothing would ever change that! He looked up at her with his teary eyes, and gently shook his head.

"I didn't think so," she said. "Now get out of my sight."

Mokuba slowly walked out of the office and closed the door behind him. Next, he ran down the hall to one of the lounge areas and collapsed onto the nearest couch and cried. He couldn't believe he'd said those things! Did he really think that? Or did Natalie do this? What if it was the way he really felt! Mokuba wished that his brother were there. He wished he'd never died. Seto didn't deserve it! At least he didn't in Mokuba's eyes. At least, that's what Mokuba hoped. He wanted Seto to hug him tightly and to tell him it was all right. He wanted this all to be a horrible nightmare that just wouldn't end. He wanted to wake up and run to Seto for comfort, but knew he couldn't. Did anyone even care about him now? Wait! His friends! Where were they? Why hadn't they come for him by now? Oh well. If his only family had left him, why not his friends too?

Mokuba put more blame on himself. Hey, he felt bad why not make it worse? He felt like he could never be happy again. He wished he'd died instead of Seto. But what would Seto have done if it had been him? Mokuba wondered about it. He wondered if Seto would have just continued working like nothing had even happened. Or maybe Seto would have cared. Could it be possible that he may have even cried? At the moment, Mokuba wasn't so sure. Actually, he may not have been so sure even if he hadn't started to doubt their relationship. He had never seen his older brother cry. Seto wasn't the type of person to cry. He didn't even cry at their father's funeral! Seto was a stronger person though. More tears flowed down his cheeks. Maybe he should try to get over his death. Crying and wishing weren't going to bring him back.

"Mokuba!" Natalie cried from down the hall.

He sat up. He didn't want to go back there. She would probably do something to harm him or make him feel worse. There was no doubt about it. Mokuba slowly got up and made his way down the hall. Then, he braced himself for what may happen next.