Hey guys, hope you like this one. Considering whether or not I should continue and make a series out of this considering there are a number of things I can't properly address in a one-shot, ie, why Mokuba hasn't told Seto his little secret yet. So leave me your thoughts! We'll see where this goes. In the meantime, enjoy my thinly veiled excuse to write about my adopted babies under the pretense of practising alternate writing formats and furthering myself an an author. Also there's no way Mokuba doesn't use tons of emojis when he's in a good mood. No way.
"Because brothers don't let each other wander in the dark alone." ~Jolene Perry
Mokuba took each step with great care, balancing his weight just so. His bright striped socks cushioned his every step, but regardless, his brother was an absurdly light sleeper, and the young boy wasn't going to take any chances.
He felt bad, of course, for sneaking around behind Seto's back. The elder had essentially given up any chance at a normal life to take care of the both of them and there wasn't anything Seto wouldn't do for his baby brother. Mokuba knew this, but in his defence, it wasn't like he was doing anything wrong. He only wanted what everybody wanted, right? His family.
By all accounts, in all the world, Seto was the only family he had. Their blood relatives either passed away or had abandoned them long ago, and their stepfather was long since dead, leaving Seto and Mokuba the better for it. That left Noah, the long-lost adoptive brother they didn't know they had until more recent times.
As far as Seto was happy to believe, Noah – or what remained of him – Perished when KaibaCorp Island had been blown up. But Mokuba was nothing if not hopeful, and while Seto had been stuck in a series of back-to-back meetings, Mokuba conducted himself a little mission.
It had taken a generous payoff and some serious bending over backwards to keep the KaibaCorp employees from telling his big brother about his plans, but the venture had been well worth the effort for Mokuba. Amongst the rubble and the debris was a tiny flash drive, and Mokuba dared to dream that whatever was on it might help him reunite with his brother.
His dream came true and more.
Mokuba's own personal computer, the one that lived in his room, was advanced enough to run any game and almost any program, but even it wasn't quite up to scratch enough to support whatever was on this USB stick. However, the one Seto kept in his home office went beyond state of the art, and it just so happened that a certain black-haired baby brother knew all the passwords. Unfortunately, the only time Mokuba could access this computer was during the meagre few hours of sleep Seto got each night.
And that wasn't the only limitation he faced. Hooked up to Gozaburo's expensive, extensive system, it was almost as though Noah was alive. Mokuba could see him, hear him, touch him as well as if he were flesh and blood.
But this wasn't the virtual world, this was the real one. And in the real world, that flash drive had been designed to act as a failsafe in the event that something happened to the virtual world, or the system maintaining it. Mokuba couldn't see or hear or touch Noah. But he could talk to him, and it was better than nothing.
Mokuba booted the computer, input the password, inserted the flash drive, and –
NOAH Baby brother! How was your day? :)
Mokuba beamed as the words appeared on the screen before him, before eagerly typing back.
Hey, bro :):):) It was great! :D Seto's this close to closing this important deal- oh! and there's this great new ice cream flavour down the road from KC HQ! It's delicious P:
Noah never seemed to begrudge Mokuba for describing things he could never experience. If anything, he encouraged Mokuba to talk about them. If someone came across their chat logs and didn't know better, they could assume that they were reading a conversation between two brothers who lived in different states, different countries maybe, but not different worlds.
NOAH Ooh, sounds good! Bet it can't beat good old cookies and cream though ;)
I thought your favourite flavour was mint chocolate chip?
NOAH Eh, after only having the same flavour for however many years in that world, I decided to jump to my second favourite instead.
Mokuba laughed quietly before crafting his response.
Good point xp I'll take you for ice cream one day, bro. It'll be great :D
NOAH I don't think the extension cable will reach.
Not like this, silly! :P Remember in the virtual world how I told you we'd get our best technicians to build you a robot body? I still intend to make good on that.
There was a delay before Noah replied.
NOAH Exactly how are you going to manage that if you can't even tell Seto about me?
I will! I'm just waiting for the right time, is all…
NOAH Mokuba?
Whaaat? You know how Seto gets.
NOAH It's okay. I'm happy like this. Besides, it's no less than I deserve.
Don't talk like that!
NOAH Hasn't it ever bothered you that I nearly killed you?
Buut you didn't!
NOAH But I tried to.
Everyone's entitled to a bad day.
NOAH Mokuba, I'm fairly sure Seto hates me, and he's right to. I've done a lot I'm not proud of, and certainly not enough to deserve a brother like you. But believe me when I tell you that nobody's ever cared about me the way you do. This might not be much of a life, but it's the best one I've ever had and I owe that to you, little brother. Don't ever forget that.
Mokuba stared at the words on his screen. There were tears in his eyes, but the boy was stubborn and didn't let them fall. Noah was brave, and he could be too. In the past year or so he'd doing this, Mokuba hadn't cried once.
But I want you here with me.
Another delay, then…
NOAH I want to be there with you too.
Mokuba reached up and placed a hand on the screen, and then slowly leaned forward until his forehead was touching it. With his other hand, he kept typing.
I'm sorry.
NOAH Don't be :)
Mokuba stared at the tiny emoticon, and smiled just a little bit. If Noah really were standing in front of him, he didn't doubt he'd be smiling too.
NOAH You ought to get to bed. Big day, tomorrow.
Why, what's tomorrow?
NOAH I don't know, but you never really have small ones, do you? ;)
Mokuba laughed, but then caught himself and instantly hushed.
Okay, bro. But I'll be back tomorrow night, I promise :D
NOAH I know. You always are :)
Goodnight, Noah. :D
NOAH Goodnight, Mokuba. :D
The younger switched the computer off after a brief moment of hesitation, and stashed the flash drive in his pocket. A marbled wave of joy and sadness washed over Mokuba, immobilising him for a moment before he grinned and tiptoed out of his brother's study with great care, balancing his weight just so.