He has to do it.
He has to pull the plug. He's not even certain it will work, because he doesn't understand the powers of the Quantum Cube, but he does have sudo access to all of Kaiba Corp's technology. He's in charge now. He can shut it down and hope for the best.
So he does.
Really, he should have done it so long ago. He watches as the blue lights pulse and then fade into nothingness, and he exhales a deep sigh of relief that he wasn't even aware he was holding in.
He knows that Seto is going to be furious, but it happens so quickly that he isn't fully convinced that it was him in control of his body. He watches the screen carefully as his brother's eyes open. Seto's expression is blank at first, but his eyes meet Mokuba's, and through the screen, Mokuba can feel his brother's fury. He can actually feel it, viscerally, as a cold fire that sears through his chest, spreading icy flames through his bloodstream.
"What the hell?"
His brother's voice is cold and angry, but this time he doesn't flinch. He puffs out his cheeks and folds his arms across his chest. "That's it!" he snaps, and the sternness in his own voice genuinely surprises him. "You're not doing this again!"
Seto's eyes narrow, and Mokuba can hear him growl with ill-contained rage.
"I'm not letting you do this! You go out of control, you don't sleep, you get reckless, you're willing to kill yourself, and you're not a good brother to me!" Mokuba's voice quivers, but he pushes through, hastily wiping away the tears that leak from the corners of his eyes. "What do you want, anyways? Some kind of closure? You're never going to get it! It happened! You lost! It sucked! And now he's gone!" He sniffles, and blood surges through into his cheeks, and the edges of the world feel like they are melting around him.
"You want closure, huh? The same way I got mine when our parents died? You're going to throw your life away-" he has stopped pretending to hold it together now, and tears stream down his face as he continues, "-because you think that this is your fate, or something, but it's not! You're sick, and you can't see it, but everyone else can!"
"What makes you think you have the right"-
"Because I do! You promised you were always going to look out for me. That's what this is, huh?"
On the giant screen in front of him, Seto's bright blue eyes narrow, and his face crinkles into a grimace.
"Just for one second, look at the world outside of yourself. This is pathetic! You wanted to make the world some kind of better place, and that's what this is, right? That's why-why-" His throat closes, and a ghastly choking sound bursts from his throat and he crumples into himself, watching as tears spatter the keyboard in front of him.
At some point, the tears cease to be enough, and he bows his head and sobs openly, letting tears and snot get everywhere. Occasionally he looks up at the screen to make sure that his brother is still there, and every time he catches a glimpse of those ocean-blue eyes, blown up to larger-than-life on the screen, a fresh wave of relief and fury washes over him, and the pain in his chest redoubles.
Hours pass. Or maybe just seconds. The sleeves of his suit jacket are soaked, and a dull buzz rings in his ears. The inside of his head feels hollowed-out from the crying. Mokuba sniffles, scooting aside the keyboard so he can rest his head against the table, whimpering softly as a few final tears trickle down. As his breathing starts to steady, he becomes aware of the soft sound of Seto's breathing through speakers, and looks up, blinking his puffy eyes in confusion.
Seto's face is expressionless, and if it weren't for the distant and crackly sound of his breathing, Mokuba would have assumed that his brother had disconnected. He stares at his brother's eyes on the screen, taking comfort in the subtle shifting of the pixels, reminding him that his brother is still alive and breathing.
"Mokuba." Seto's voice is soft, but Mokuba has forgotten the proximity of his head to the speakers, and he yelps softly, leaping upwards.
"What?"
Seto Kaiba does not smile. He remains as blank and unreadable as ever. For years to come, Mokuba will replay that moment, both in his mind and in the video recording logs stored on a secure Kaiba Corporation server, because he can't exactly pinpoint what changes. Nor, for that matter, can image detection algorithms. Yet something changes, and even though his eyes are sore and swollen from crying, the world seems a little lighter as his brother stares evenly back at him. "Mokuba, I'm coming home."
Short and (sort of bitter-) sweet. Without a doubt, Mokuba is my favorite character from Yu-Gi-Oh, and he deserves so much more than he gets. There was something hugely cathartic about writing this one out :P
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Mei