Mokuba's Plan

By Pearl of the Dark Age

Disclaimer: I don't own any part or whole of Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter 27

In the dead of night something was bringing Seto painfully out of his deep sleep. His brain felt fuzzy, confused by his surroundings. I'm in bed, he realized. But this isn't a dream. Is it an earthquake? The bed was shaking, but nothing else in the room appeared to be. He turned over to see if Amelda had woken, too. The redhead's eyes were sealed shut, and he was violently twisting and cringing. He must be having a nightmare, Seto realized. And he tried to go back to sleep.

Soft moans and sobs cut into Seto's attempts to sleep. He opened his eyes yet again and turned over to try and wake his boyfriend. "Amelda!" he called. "Cut it out; it's just a nightmare." He was disgusted that his efforts had no affect. "Amelda!" he called again, louder this time. He grabbed the redhead by the shoulders and shook him hard to no avail. He was getting really frustrated now.

"Moj malen majmun!" Amelda cried. "Moj malen brat; ja je propustila te!" He started to scream with a voice so filled with anguish it even made Seto cringe. "Žao mi je! Žao mi je! Žao mi je! Miruko!" Big tears soaked the red locks, dampening the pillow beneath as well. He shook violently, racked with sobs, almost hysterical. The screams would stop, and they got worst. "Žao mi je! "Žao mi je! Žao mi je! Žao mi je! Miruko! Žao mi je! Žao mi je!"

Seto had enough. Smack! But Amelda did not even seem to feel it. Aggravation mounted, but rising from the pits of his stomach, so did panic. What do I do? He got out of bed and strode swiftly to his younger brother's room. Mokuba had spent a whole month with him, so he should know, right?

"Mokuba," he called, shaking him awake. "Get up! I need your help, now!"

"What the…?" Mokuba asked groggily. "Nii-sama? What's wrong?" He rubbed his eyes as he sat upright.

"It's Amelda," Seto said quickly. "He's trapped in some nightmare. I think it's about his otouto. I don't know what to do. Tell me, Mokuba."

Mokuba blinked at him slowly, his brain still half asleep. "Nii-sama," he replied carefully, "there's nothing you can do. I've tried everything from dousing him in cold water to slapping his face. It never works."

"What?" Seto responded, disbelievingly. "That can't be!"

"It is," said Mokuba, sadly. "Is this the first time he's had a nightmare while sharing a bed with you?"

"Yes," Seto replied, uncertain about the validity of the question. "How often did he suffer them with you?"

"Almost every night!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Maybe your presence has some sort of calming effect." He hopped out of bed and ran to Onii-chan. Seto followed at a quick pace.

Amelda had curled up into a fetal position on his side. His knees were drawn to his chin, and he was completely quiet. "Uh-oh," Mokuba said.

"What is it?" Nii-sama demanded, standing behind him.

Mokuba turned around to face his older brother. "I've never seen this before," he replied nervously. "I don't know if this is good or bad!"

Seto swallowed. "Ano, at least he's quiet. I can go back to sleep now."

"Nii-sama!" Mokuba cried, panicked. "This is bad!"

"You just said you didn't know!"

"How can it be good?" Mokuba wailed. "Nobody curls up into a ball when they're happy!"

"He'll be all right," Seto tried to reassure Mokuba as he settled himself beneath the sheets. But he had his doubts, too. "Go back to bed. Don't make me tell you twice, because you won't get a third."

Mokuba knew not to reckon with the finality in his older brother's orders. He slumped off to his bedroom, giving his nii-sama one last desperate look before closing the door behind him.

Feeling extremely uneasy, Seto did not consider falling back asleep. He swept away the wet strands that clung to Amelda's face. He tried picking Amelda up, but only succeeded in rolling him over off the bed. Astonished, he clambered out quickly to find that he was still stone quiet and rolled up into a ball. The uneasiness ballooned inside him.

"Amelda?" he called. He picked him up, using better leverage now that he was standing, dropped him back onto the bed, and tried forcing Amelda's legs to straighten. It had no effect; he might as well have been a bronze statue. Seto sat beside him, rubbing his back in an effort to try and relax him. Nothing seem to work.

Now the CEO was extremely worried. Wild thoughts that Amelda might be stuck like this for the rest of his life began to creep into his mind. His common sense argued with this, but that annoying voice of doubt would not shut up. Seto considered locating Amelda's cell phone to see if he could call Raphael or Varon to help him. Surely they would know what to do, he reasoned. But he did not want to look weak, asking for help when it did not seem that necessary. It's not like it's an emergency. In the end, Seto fell asleep curled up against Amelda, his arms spooning him in a protective embrace.

He woke up when the alarm went off, but the redhead did not. "Come on!" he exclaimed. "Wake up, Amelda! It's not Monday! You've no excuse for sleeping in!" He shook him. Nothing. "Great!" Seto muttered bitterly.

Mokuba came into the room still in his pajamas. "Onii-chan?" He crawled onto the bed over to where they were. "Onii-chan?" Amelda's eyes did not even flutter. Mokuba let out a small whimper of protest. "Nii-sama! What do we do?" he implored.

Seto lost his patience completely. "I don't know!" he yelled. He could not understand why Amelda was acting this way. Seto had suffered through his childhood. He had painful memories, too. But he never acted this way. Granted, Amelda witnessed two years of bloody warfare, while Seto was abused in his gilded cage.

"I'm calling Raphael," Mokuba said.

"No, you're going to school," Seto commanded. He stood up and walked out of the bedroom into Amelda's den. Where's that cell? He surveyed the mess upon the desk, shuffling through it. He searched high and low for it. Mokuba came into the room, helping him search. Seto gave him a stern look.

"I'm not going to school, today," Mokuba said. "Not when Onii-chan needs help. I love him, Nii-sama. It would kill me if anything were to happen."

"He's just asleep," Seto replied, trying to instill some calm in his voice. "He'll wake up. It's not as if he had been hit by a car." They spent an hour and thirty minutes searching for Amelda's cell phone. The phone in Seto's study rang, and he went to answer it.

"Good morning, Kaiba-sama," his secretary said cheerfully. "Will you be coming into work late today?" Seto glanced at the clock on the wall and then down at his pajamas. He had forgotten about work. He had not dressed or eaten breakfast.

"Uh… no," he replied. "That is… I'm not sure if I'll be coming in at all today. Postpone any meetings I have until tomorrow, and tell Isono to take care of the usual. I have to go now." And he hung up before she could say good bye.

"Atta! I found it!" Mokuba said wildly, running into the study.

"Great!" Seto replied. He flipped it open, located the list of numbers, and dialed Raphael.

It rang five times before a small, female voice answered in English, "Hello?"

"I'm calling for Raphael; is he there?" Seto asked in Japanese, vaguely wondering who she was.

"Hello!" she replied. "Who is this?"

Seto realized that she could not be more than two. Guessing correctly, he said in English, "Could you please put your daddy on the phone? It's important."

"Daddy's at work now," she informed in her little girl's voice. "You talk funny!"

"Is your mommy there?" he asked, hoping to reach a sensible adult.

"Mommy!" she yelled. By the sound of it, she barely had moved the receiver away from her mouth. Seto's ear throbbed.

"Hello?" came another voice, still female, but deeper. "May I ask who's calling please?"

"Seto Kaiba," he answered without hesitation. "Listen - I'm calling from Japan. I need to speak with Raphael. Can you give me his work number? It's urgent!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you his work number. May I take a message?"

Seto hung up, irritated at the lack of help. He could understand why she would be reluctant to hand out phone numbers to what she assumed was a total stranger. Still, he was furious.

Amelda walked into the room, giving the Kaiba brothers a puzzled look. They both returned his stare with wide eyes of surprise. "What's going on?" he asked mildly.

Seto stood stock still, torn between kissing him and killing him. "Kisama!" he snarled. "Now you wake up?"

Amelda yawned widely. "It's not that late," he said sleepily. He glanced at Mokuba. "Shouldn't you be in school already?" He looked inquiringly at the pair of them still in their pajamas.

Amelda's cell phone rang. He strode forward to answer it, giving Seto a suspicious look. "Moshi-moshi."

"Amelda?" Raphael inquired. "My wife just called me and told me Seto Kaiba was asking for me. Apparently he hung up when she asked if he wanted to leave a message. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Amelda answered. He scrutinized his boyfriend. "He had my cell in his hand when I woke up this morning. He seems upset about something."

Seto grabbed the phone from Amelda. "I'm sorry for disturbing you and your family," he said formally. "I over-reacted to a situation earlier, but it's now under control."

"What situation?" Raphael inquired with concern.

Seto hesitated. He felt foolish, but the truth was better than a lie. "Amelda wouldn't wake up this morning."

Anyone but Raphael would not have understood the severity of the statement. Varon usually slept in until noon when he had worked with them, so even he would not have understood. "What happened?" Raphael asked.

Seto gave a brief summary of the nightmare and how Amelda would not respond to anything Seto did. Raphael seemed to be taking it all in. "Well, you did the right thing," he said slowly. "But I've seen worse. The problem is that we can't take him to a psychiatrist, because no one will believe that a 10, 000 year old lunatic single-handedly corrupted his life. Next time, what you should do is-"

Amelda grabbed the phone out of Seto's hand at that critical moment. "Amelda!" Seto protested. "He was going to tell me something important!"

Amelda scoffed. "Don't make such a big deal out of it," he muttered acerbically. "You're acting as if I'm some sort of mental patient!" It was obvious that he was deeply sensitive about the subject. He talked into the cell phone. "Thanks for your concern, Raphael, but everything's fine here. Don't worry about it. I'll call you sometime this weekend. Bye!" And he hung up before his friend could respond. "Don't ever call Raphael again!" he hissed at Seto menacingly.

Seto swelled up with the indignity. "Amelda! It was for your own good! Mokuba and I were worried! It was like you were in a coma or something."

The apathetic redhead tutted, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "I never knew you were such a softie," he said in a low, taunting voice.

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" Seto asked in a warning tone. "You must be insane."

Amelda flared up. Seto was knocked to the floor before he knew what hit him. "Nii-sama!" Mokuba cried, running over to assist his fallen brother. Seto grabbed the back of his head, which was bleeding because he had hit it on the side of the desk when he went down.

"I am NOT insane!" Amelda shrieked, sounding just the opposite. His eyes glinted like knives. "How dare you? How dare you take my sorrow and pain and morph it into something like insanity? Giving it a label like that just because you don't understand! I am not helpless!" He fell to his knees, shaking in grief and anger. "Nana always understood! She was the only one who did. And now I have no one…"

"What about Raphael and Varon?" Seto asked heatedly. "What about Mokuba and me? Do we mean nothing to you?"

Amelda looked at him with a pained expression of love. "You mean everything to me. All of you do. But you proved that you don't understand me by blanketing my problems under "insanity." You think I'm weak, don't you?"

At the moment, yes, Seto thought miserably. By his silent reply Amelda knew what Seto was thinking. He snarled at him, stood up, and departed with wings on his heels. "Nii-sama," Mokuba said, tentatively. "What are you going to do?"

"Find a first-aid kit," Seto stated with a heavy heart, fingering the back of his head.

"What about Onii-chan?" Mokuba asked, his voice laden with worry.

"I'll talk to him once he's calmed down," Seto replied, thinking it over. "Get dressed Mokuba. Then, go get yourself some breakfast. Don't worry about school. I'll call them and say you're sick."

"Thanks," Mokuba murmured. He left, and Seto went into the bathroom to attend his wounded scalp.

The first place Seto checked for Amelda was the garage to see if he had left the house. Both the car and the motorcycle were there. Good, he's still home, Seto confirmed. He searched throughout the mansion. After twenty minutes of not finding the feisty redhead, he asked a passing servant if she had seen him. She said he was in the kitchen, cooking.

Seto shook his head, not bothering to understand why. Nevertheless, he went downstairs to the kitchen, past the galley, into the more open section with a marble-top island. He ducked as a cast-iron skillet sailed over his head, crashed into the framed ponytail, and shattered glass everywhere. "Still angry?" he asked an enraged pacifist. The redhead chucked the bag of flour he was holding, making his aim true. It smashed right into the pajama-clad CEO's chest, sending flour in all directions. Seto was coated in white powder. He coughed slightly as Amelda picked up a copper wok threateningly. "I'd rather you didn't throw that," Seto said calmly. "The chef won't be happy."

"I do most of the cooking around here!" Amelda yelled as if this justified the matter.

"Only because you let Mokuba talk you into it. You don't have to trouble yourself just to please him."

"Trouble myself? Is it too much for my fragile soul to cook?" Amelda returned, dripping with sarcasm. "I'm NOT weak, Seto! After everything I've been through, I should be dead! I live each day with the knowledge that I failed Miruko. He died because of me! And yet I manage to live on. I moved here without anyone. I built Bishonen-ai from scrap! Now I'm a huge success. I have friends, employees who respect me, and a boyfriend who…"

"A boyfriend who loves you," Seto finished for him. He observed Amelda's features for a reaction. It was like watching the winter snow melt into spring. The redhead blinked, trying to absorb what he had just been told. Seto felt that it was now safe to approach him. Without breaking eye contact, he pulled the copper wok out of his boyfriend's grasp and sat it down on the counter next to them.

"Say that again," Amelda whispered, smiling in ecstasy.

"I love you, Amelda," Seto stated, cupping his chin, and smiling himself. "I told you that I could learn to love you. What I've discovered this morning is the true meaning behind what Yugi had told me. I will never stop learning. It is a daily effort - a daily adventure. There will always be something new to learn about you, and that fascinates me. I want to spend the rest of my life learning how to love you."