Painful Memories: Part III: Consequences

Late Night Discussions

Most of the seats in first class had gone dark in preparation for the long flight to Cairo. It was going to be over thirteen hours to reach Egypt, but Kaiba didn't intend on getting any sleep. He never could sleep comfortably on planes. Perhaps it was because he never trusted the pilots to be as careful or confident in their actions as he was, perhaps he was just paranoid about anyone else being in control, but nevertheless he had brought plenty of things to keep his mind busy for those thirteen hours: his suitcase full of work for KaibaCorp, a few of his favorite science fiction novels, and his deck which he needed to look over before they touched down.

It wasn't that he absolutely needed to refresh his mind about what cards were in there. He would know those in his sleep. Looking them over was comforting and would help him keep up his resolution to take up the Rod. It seemed silly, but he needed that confirmation. Something about looking at the Blue-Eyes made him more determined to do it. It always was a source of strength for him, though ever since his last trip to Egypt, he wondered how much of that was from the Blue-Eyes monster that he loved, and how much of that was Kisara's influence.

He pushed his suitcase of work aside and opened the window flap so that he could look out into the night sky. Beneath them it was raining, and occasionally flashes of lightening would light up the hull of the plane. It was beautiful, but at the same time rather dangerous. He couldn't tell from this angle if the pilot was flying too close to the thunderstorm or not, and he had to temper the temptation to make a trip to the cockpit to ensure the pilot was doing his job properly. It would probably make Pegasus annoyed.

His phone buzzed and he reached into his pocket to fetch it out. Mokuba had responded to a text he had sent earlier. Despite the fact that they were fighting, he didn't feel right leaving Japan without informing him. The world could be falling to pieces, and the two brothers might be arguing, but they would still keep each other in the loop on things like that. Deep down they still knew that they were the only family they had, which made it difficult to even start fighting to begin with.

Wish you had told me earlier. Let me know when you get to Egypt. Miss you.

Those last two words struck Kaiba harder than he would have liked. They felt like a punch to the stomach, like the wind had been knocked out of him, and he leaned his head back against the leather seat. It was a testament to how much their fight had been weighing down on him. With two words Mokuba had rendered him relieved and speechless in a way that no one else could. It meant that this fight wasn't going to last forever, that there was still a chance to patch things up, and that Kaiba's ego hadn't chased his brother off for good.

"Everything alright?" Pegasus sat down beside him with that knowing smile on his lips.

"Yes," Kaiba said as he pulled himself together into a straighter posture. "Everything's fine."

Pegasus glanced to the phone in his hands, "I was worried. You were staring at your phone like there was a fire or something."

"No, no fire," he said. "It's just Mokuba. I'm glad to hear from him."

"Oh yes, I'd heard you two were having a fight."

Kaiba huffed, "I knew Kimi had found out, but I didn't think it had gotten around more than that. She's usually good at keeping her mouth shut about such things."

Pegasus waved him away, "Nonsense. I'm astonished that you hadn't told me the moment it happened. I mean, I know that you and I didn't part on the best of terms, but I thought we were still close enough that you would let me know if your little brother had a fight with you."

There wasn't any mocking on Pegasus' face, just simple fact. He had a good point too. "We didn't exactly part, did we? You just kind of faded away, and I got caught up in work."