Chapter 10

Continuing on their search Kaiba led the way as he constantly checked the locator. Yami walked beside him and the rest began to slowly trail behind.

"At least we know that there's only one eliminator out there." Yami tried to make conversation with Kaiba as they walked in silence.

"Your peep talks don't work on me so give it a rest." Kaiba replied to Yami's optimistic remark.

"We have to stop." Zene told them both as she had left the others behind to catch up and block their way.

"What is it now?" Kaiba growled annoyed that he was being forced to stop from the search for his brother. They only had a couple of hours before sunset when they would have to stop to set up camp for the night since they wouldn't be able to carry on their search in the dark.

"We're all exhausted and need to rest." Zene explained and was met with a hateful look from Kaiba. She now understood why nobody else had volunteered to put across this point to him, but also knew that she would always say what was on her mind regardless of what other people would think.

"I agree." Yami stepped in on the conversation.

"Fine!" Kaiba snorted. "As usual, I'll carry on alone." He pushed Zene aside as he set out on his own.

"You're not going to get anywhere by exhausting yourself." Emma shouted out to him as loud as she could back from where she had stopped to catch her breath. She saw him turn round and glare at her. "We will find Mokuba, but right now I think that you should rest too." She wondered why she even bothered to look out for him as he clearly wasn't doing the same for her. She blamed her strong beliefs in friendship for making her this way.

After some hesitation, Kaiba rejoined the group as they began to set up camp for the night as best as they could with what little supplies they had. Emma watched as Kaiba and Yami gathered nearby wood for a fire, Zene sat by herself away from the rest of them, and Tea helped Serenity to get comfortable for a sleep which she needed badly.

Sarah and Bakura couldn't be seen as Emma looked around wildly for her two friends, who she finally saw trailing way back behind the rest of them. She approached the pair of them. "How are you two doing?"

"Given the circumstances, we're doing okay." Bakura replied with a smile on his face which matched Sarah's perfectly, both of them were forced.

"No something's wrong." Emma said shaking her head. "I can see past those fake smiles."

Both of them stopped smiling and it was Sarah who spoke; "It's just that we could do with some time together." she told Emma as though she was asking for permission to leave the group. "Just for a few hours, we'll be back before nightfall."

Emma could see that the pair of them needed their time alone from the others, but didn't like the idea of the group separating. She bit the inside of her check while she decided what to do. "Do you promise?" she asked making sure that they would be back.

Bakura and Sarah both nodded with small smiles on their faces. Emma could tell that they too were fake but not as forced. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be seeing either of them again. She pulled both of them in to a hug. "Well then take care." she told them trying to keep her voice from wavering.

Taking both of their bags with her, Emma returned to the camp alone where she was met with stares from everyone and Kaiba asked what they all wanted to know. "Where are them two going?"

"They need some time to themselves to comfort each other." she told them and glared at Kaiba. "Something which you'd know nothing about." She dropped the bags where she was before making her way to one side away from them as she took off her jacket and made herself a pillow. She curled up on the ground and cried herself to sleep with the hatred that she had for herself.

Mokuba ran to the edge of the river and splashed his face with water. He had been crying after he and the others had come upon a gruesome discovery. He didn't want the others to think he was weak from showing his feelings. He rubbed his sleeve over his face to dry himself before the others caught up with him and had chance to see anything.

"You shouldn't run off like that." Andrew had followed Mokuba who was a surprisingly fast runner. "We might lose you."

"I don't care anymore." Mokuba sniffed. "We're all going to end up like that."

Andrew wasn't sure of the best way to handle the situation. "What would your brother say if he heard you talking like that?" he laughed nervously.

Mokuba closed his eyes and thought of his brother. He had always rescued him before and he was sure that he would do it again, but after what he had just seen, doubts began to fill his mind as the whole game and it's dangers had just become that little bit more real to him.

Roland and Duke had also caught up with the two of them now, and were busy getting their breath back from the running that they had just done.

"I recovered the body and marked the location on the map." Duke told Mokuba through his panting. "We can come back for him later, once this is over."

"Did you see how he died?" Andrew asked curiously wanting to know just what they may have to defend against from a possible attacker.

"It looks like he bled to death from a back wound made by something sharp like a knife or maybe an arrow." Roland said as he had been the one who had looked at Joey's body. "And from the look of things somebody was there caring for him till the end."

"But somebody killed him." Mokuba cried, not feeling at all comforted by Roland's last comment. "Somebody is playing this game."

"When I was sent out, Marcus had been killed in a similar, if not same, way." Andrew said as he thought back to that time. "So the killer is somebody that was released before me."

"Serenity wouldn't ever do anything to hurt Joey." Duke said shaking his head. "And I highly doubt that Sarah would be capable of doing anything like this. So that only leaves Kaiba."

"No!" Mokuba shouted angrily. "Seto wouldn't kill anyone! He's not like that."

"So I guess what happened at the end of Battle City was just my imagination?" Duke asked the younger boy as he referred to the time that Kaiba had blown up his own island. Kaiba and Mokuba left the island in the Blue eyes white jet whilst the rest of them where left stranded, and wouldn't have made it off the island if the medical chopper that had been sent during the duel finals wasn't there.

"That was an accident." Mokuba said quietly.

"Yeah right." Duke smirked as he move away further down the side of the river.

"You're forgetting that there are also two eliminators here too." Andrew spoke up in defence of his duelling idol.

"I'd make that just the one." Duke said as he saw the body of the first eliminator.