Reality
Pegasus paused in the doorway to let his eyes adjust before working through the crowd to the bar. There was a single stool open at the end nearest the door, but a more intriguing seat by the brunet at the other side. He sipped on a scotch and stared vaguely at the rack of bottles in front of him, thumbnail between his teeth when the glass was on the counter.
"Come here often?" Pegasus asked as he claimed the seat beside the brunet. He waved down the bartender for a glass of Merlot.
"Is that how you greet all the ladies?" the man asked, a loose smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
"Only the ones with such a severe aura."
Pegasus thanked the bartender for his drink and scanned his wrist to pay for it.
"Do you always approach people with severe auras?"
"When I'm in search of adventure."
The taste of the wine was artificial, coding programmed to stimulate part of his brain into thinking he was drinking. He registered a flavor without actually tasting a drop.
"I've never understood drinking in VR," Pegasus said, "But here I am."
"You seek adventure at the bottom of a coded wine glass?"
"Maybe I'm looking for a guide."
The brunet sipped. "Seto."
"Pegasus."
Seto knocked back his glass and stood. "Come on."
"Why, Seto. I hardly know you."
"What's the worst that could happen?"
That was…true. Pegasus took another gulp and scanned for a tip. He expected Seto to lead him through the front entrance, but was taken back through a hallway to the transport doors used to switch servers mid-game.
"I'll cover your trip," Seto said.
"Nonsense. I have enough tokens to cover whatever you could throw my way."
"Of course you do."
Seto activated the trigger and typed in a series of numbers. It pulled up an image of an empty field, and that alone piqued Pegasus's adventure radar. Seto scanned his wrist and glanced over his shoulder. "Set it to erase once you're through."
Seto disappeared in a step. Pegasus peeked in and only saw the field, not Seto. But he had to be there, and Pegasus asked for an adventure, after all, so he fell in.
The plains were dry and breezy, a massive tree off ahead, but not as large as Pegasus anticipated. Tall grass swayed around him, ending at either horizon—no, it broke off to his right, where Seto waited. The wind, which somehow Pegasus could feel, whipped Seto's hair around his eyes.
They were as blue as hers had been.
"You came."
"You promised adventure."
Pulling his shirt over his head rather than changing his avatar settings, Seto said, "You can keep your clothes on."
Pegasus finished crossing the distance and found Seto at the edge of a cliff, with white bursting waves below that echoed in the wrong direction. The amount of detail in each break and crash astounded Pegasus, that anyone could program this world to look so real.
This, this was the adventure he craved.
"Are we going to jump?"
"It helps if you keep your sensors around forty," Seto said. His pants followed his shirt, revealing a pair of swim trunks.
"I've never seen a server as open as this," Pegasus said. He gave a quick look around and saw no one.
"Then you haven't looked in the right place."
The intrigue was too much to pass over. Instead of going through the motions of stripping, Pegasus altered his avatar so he wore a pair of swim trunks as well. His were red and Seto's gray, and somehow the colors felt more real than those in the outside world.
"Do we jump now?"
"You're so eager," Seto said as he stepped to the edge. He tottered in the wind, eyes closed and arms still at his sides. "This is a world of time."
He leaned forward until a gust pushed him over. Pegasus watched him fall, down, down, impossibly far, before he hit the water.
What a rush.
Pegasus shook his head and adjusted his sensors. He had stumbled his way into an adventure larger than jumping from a cliff. Seto had a story, and if Pegasus was any judge of character, it was better than any story he might receive from the countless businessmen out there looking for something.
His arms lifted out as he fell, faster than he had ever moved, growing faster and faster while the water plunged closer and close—
Even with the sensors at less than half, the water ripped at him, tore him, shattered him and healed him, and made him feel more alive than he had in years. There had been no safety other than the promise of a continued life, and the veins under his skin pulsed with energy he didn't know he could feel in a virtual world.
How long had it been since he was alive?
He split the surface and gulped for air he didn't need, and caught Seto in a moment between waves, treading a dozen or so meters over. Seto's lips moved and his words were lost to the spray and clash. But Seto raised a hand, two fingers up, and gestured for Pegasus to follow.
There was no way up from the middle of the water. And Pegasus wasn't backing out now.
He dove back under to swim the distance, forcing himself into the rhythm the virtual world didn't require, but he needed to do. The level of his sensors was just low enough for him to experience the lingering pain with every stroke, but not enough to stop him.
Seto must have made this jump many times over.
When Pegasus came back up to look for him, Seto waved, then pointed back down. His hand moved in an arc in front of him, and the words, 'Swim all the way down,' appeared in the air. That was a trick Pegasus hadn't seen before, but didn't waste his time caught up in thought. He dove to follow and kept his eyes open, absorbed in the amount of light filtering in through the water. He had never been diving before. Maybe he should have tried it; they should have tried it.
The light rained in specks like pixels and a reef opened up before him. The thick blue of the water didn't affect their colors, leaving a wide stretch of pinks, yellows, and oranges below. Small fish wove in and out from it. And soon, Seto joined them. He lifted one up on the back of a hand and turned around, swimming backward to see if Pegasus still followed.
Pegasus joined him at the same depth, and from there, he could see the opening to the cave, tucked away under the reef. Even this deep, there was light coming out of it, and before Seto could prompt him to, Pegasus swam through the fish to get inside.
It opened up to a air pocket, filled with lights, strung all along the top of the cave. Pegasus climbed out of the water and Seto came up shortly after to sit opposite.
"I'm supposed to assume there's electricity down here?" Pegasus asked.
"We are in a virtual world. Would you like me to summon a unicorn?"
Pegasus's laughter bounced off the walls, lasting too long. The effect left him sounding much more maniacal than he had ever heard himself. Seto reacted with a smirk.
"I'm surprised that you didn't offer a pegasus."
"Oh that's far too commonplace."
"What is this place?"
"Quiet," Seto said. He leaned back on his palms and stared up at the lights. "The servers have all gotten so crowded, there's never a place alone out there."
"The point of the worlds is to do things, meet people, live a life you can't outside. Why come here for quiet?"
Seto's smile was perfect, to the point Pegasus doubted it could be real. But then again, it wasn't real. Everyone got to design their avatar, and there was no way of knowing if this was what Seto looked like in reality. From Seto's point of view, Pegasus had probably altered his. The silver hair shouldn't have been natural, especially given his age. And to have given his name as Pegasus? Seto probably thought he was a liar.
And the only thing Pegasus had changed about his appearance, adding the second eye back, was likely not what Seto would have expected.
What had Seto changed? The smile couldn't have existed in reality, and if Pegasus hadn't loved a woman with the same eyes, he might have thought that shade of blue impossible.
"You're staring at me."
"I am."
"Why is that?"
Pegasus snapped his fingers as he changed back into his red suit, even though it wasn't necessary for the show, just a touch of added flair.
"You remind me of someone."
"Someone good, I hope."
Seto changed back into his black-on-black ensemble. He didn't bother with any theatrics; the clothing simply appeared on him.
"Yes. Someone good."
Seto left his feet to dangle in the water, and Pegasus did the same. His mind registered the cold, but not the wet. When he kicked his feet, the sound floated around the space and sounded back around his ears. He still only partially processed the sound.
The light on his wrist pinged him.
"Your time's up," Seto said.
Pegasus considered paying for more time, but Seto had given him a lot to think about, and he needed to outside the game. He would come back, find Seto again.
"What are your sensors set to?"
With a brilliant smile, Seto said, "Always a hundred."
A pulling, and Pegasus woke in his pod. He didn't know what that had been. Players shouldn't have access to closed servers. They shouldn't have been able to draw words in the air or summon things on command.
Who was Seto?
Pegasus found him at the bar again, same drink in hand, same outfit. His thumbnail was back between his teeth, other hand playing with the scotch. In that moment, Pegasus felt if he walked up to Seto and started with the same opening line, they would end up in the same adventure.
Why would anyone pay to enter the world only to sit at a bar and drink? In the same time and place, with the same mannerisms?
Seto must have been an NPC. How had Pegasus failed to notice? Seto had access to isolated places, new places, and could control things no one else could. A player wouldn't have been given access to that level of control.
Maybe he was a quest, and what Seto had taken Pegasus on was the first stage.
Pegasus took the stool beside him again. An adventure was an adventure.
"Lovely weather."
"It's always sunny on this server," Seto said. He sipped his drink gracefully, like he was programmed for that exact motion.
"Have you been to many others?"
"I've been to all the others."
Pegasus chuckled and ordered a drink. "You would have to live here for the time to see them all."
"Forgive me. You must know more of my life than I do."
"I know you've been here two nights in a row. Same seat, same drink, same clothes. It begs a repeat of the question, do you come here often?"
"Maybe I'm not old enough to drink outside of the game."
"And who are you in the outside world?"
A computer? A memory stick? A small line of coding?
"Someone you'll never meet."
Pegasus put a hand to his chest in mock offense before having to move it to pay for his drink. "Your words cut me quick."
"Why pay for artificial drinks?"
There was a question for the room full of people in a virtual bar. To answer it, Pegasus clinked his glass against Seto's and hated how dull the resonance echoed. "For the same reason as you, I'm sure."
"Don't be." Seto drowned his glass. "You assume I paid."
Seto grew more interesting with every second, every smug expression. He was programmed to act snide and above the players, but also like he was hiding some tragedy. His developers did well.
"You are allowed to return after skipping out on payments?"
Seto swirled the scotch and watched it move after his hand had stopped. "When you own the place, you're allowed to do anything."
He stood, pushed his glass to the bartender, and made for the door. Pegasus drank what he could get down and followed after scanning for a tip. It seemed Seto was determined not to let Pegasus get to the bottom of his glass, although he couldn't really say he minded in light of what Seto offered.
Pegasus caught up and met Seto's stride, and they walked in pace opposite the crowd. There was probably an event behind them people paid to watch, but if Seto didn't care about it, neither would Pegasus.
"How does one open a bar in the virtual world?"
"One has a great deal of time and resources."
"Then why not answer your own question? Why drink in a virtual bar?"
Seto turned left into an alleyway and scanned his wrist against a brick that looked like all the rest until he touched it. Then it glowed, flashing the alley into the same field as the day before.
Did this NPC only have one trick?
But after walking through, Seto didn't head out to the cliff, but to the tree in the far distance.
"Do I not get an answer?" Pegasus asked.
"Not one that will suit you."
"A day doesn't give you the capacity to judge me so easily. Why drink coded scotch?"
"Some people embrace the little they have. Others run far from it."
Seto didn't ask which category Pegasus fell into, and Pegasus didn't offer.
"Has running to digital drink helped?" Pegasus asked instead.
Seto put his hands into his pockets and kept his gaze ahead even though Pegasus was staring at him. A full view of his face could have answered several pressing questions, most importantly, why Pegasus got the sudden feeling he had misspoken.
"Has it helped you?"
"I'm here for adventure, not tasteless wine."
"Adventure is an excuse. And the wine isn't tasteless."
Pegasus scoffed and ran his hands over the tops of the grass, glancing back at the path behind him. The blades should have bent and broken, but they still stood as perfect as the ones out in front of them. It was an imperfect detail in what should have been a perfect world.
That flaw made it more real, somehow.
"And what your excuse for being here?"
"Private."
"Ah yes. You're not much of an open book."
They reached the tree, which from close up wasn't a tree at all, but a series of wood carvings stacked in the shape of a tree. Pegasus, awed, circled it, marveling after that level of craftsmanship. For such fine detail, it must have been designed by someone who was a master in their field, as well as a gifted artist.
"Should I be? I'm only a gateway to adventure."
"That is taking me much out of context," Pegasus said. "Besides, that's all you've given me to work with. For all I know, this isn't what you look like. You might not be called Seto."
You might not be real.
"What does the world outside matter? If you can't find adventure there, the game is better."
"But you can't live in a game." Pegasus did another lap of the tree to make note of the mass of details he missed the first time. "This isn't real."
"It's as real as you want it to be."
"But it's not. There's no wind, no feel of the grain and grooves beneath my fingers, no taste of wine and no morning chill. The sensations in this world are wrong. Can't you feel how artificial this all is?"
"Why search for an artificial purpose?""
"Because there's nothing left for me out there," Pegasus said, too quickly, too forcefully. He traced a finger over the lightly carved stripes on a zebra. "Virtual reality is an escape from the actual."
Because of the tree's build, there were some gaps and holes leading through. And through one of them, Pegasus saw Seto, angry and tense. NPCs shouldn't have been able to express such a variety of emotions. But no, with the detail in this tree, it was possible. Pegasus didn't know what to make of this world or the players in it. He didn't know what to make of Seto, and that both delighted and infuriated him.
Moving around the tree, he faced a neutral-again Seto.
"Who are you, Seto?"
The smirk in Seto's eyes was electric.
"No one of any importance."
"Why don't I believe that?"
"Because the truth is rarely what you're craving."
Fine then. If Seto claimed he was out there somewhere, Pegasus would find him if only to prove he could.
The bar was less crowded, but Seto was in the same place, same drink, same posture. After a week of searching for him in vain, Pegasus stormed over to lean across and to grab Seto's attention.
"Who are you?"
"A week and you've given up? You must have deep pockets or vast connections. Maybe both."
"You aren't listed in the game guide. You aren't in any nursing homes or retirement centers. There aren't too many Setos, but you're not any of them."
Seto smiled around his glass. "You thought I was an NPC?"
"That isn't the point."
"So you're a rich man with too much time and money. You have a job that pays well but doesn't fulfill you. You must live in Japan from the carryover accent, and it's more likely since the pods are harder to come by in other countries."
Seto waved his hand in front of him and brought up a display.
How?
"With that information, I'd say you are…here. Pegasus Crawford. No. You sign with the initial. Pegasus J. Crawford."
"Now that you know my secret identity, tell me yours."
"No."
Seto finished his drink and called for a second. Because that indicated Seto planned to stay, Pegasus settled in for the conversation. Staying in the bar hadn't become their norm and although breaking routine had been Pegasus's reason for taking on the virtual world, this wasn't what he had in mind. He came in for adventure, not to be harassed by some teenager in a bar.
"Are you a child? Is that why you're always here?"
"I own this place."
"That doesn't answer my question. Are you a child?"
"I answer the questions I choose."
Pegasus grabbed Seto's drink from his hand and pushed it back to the bartender. They weren't getting anywhere like this, and Seto refusing to help was frustrating. This wasn't the point of coming into the game. Pegasus wasn't supposed to put this much energy into a person. This wasn't adventure.
The next breath from Seto was exaggerated and amused. "Am I not allowed to drink now?"
"It's your bar. Do what you want to."
"And let me guess," Seto said with the same perfect smile as he had worn when they met, "You want me to tell you all my secrets."
"Is it a matter of trust? You know who I am. What do you think I'll do with the knowledge?"
"Try to help."
What the hell did that mean? What was he supposed to do with that?
"What is so wrong with wanting to help?"
"You don't even know what you're helping."
"Tell me."
The perfect smile became maddening.
"No."
Pegasus signed off three hours early.
"You've got to be kidding."
"Running facial recognition off you shouldn't be such a strange request."
"And how do you suggest taking a picture?" Seto asked. He ran his hand over the bar top and lifted it in a gentle arc before bringing it back down, and a camera appeared in that spot. "Have at it."
"I haven't told you I'm an artist? You haven't seen that in your research on me?"
"You can't run facial recognition off a drawing."
Pegasus smirked and waved off the bartender when she offered another refill. "Maybe the layman couldn't."
He expected Seto to take it as normal, with a dismissive stare and refocusing part of his attention away from Pegasus, but instead, he became angry. "Why? What's the point of finding me?"
"What's the point of staying hidden?"
"You're here for a fucking adventure, not to give me unwanted attention."
"Is it unwanted? You could pick a different server, a different spot to wait every day. You're the one who keeps coming back."
"I own this bar. It's my right to be here."
"And it's my right to know my tour guide."
Seto pushed back and almost knocked over his stool. "No," he said, "It's really not."
"Then why let me find you? For someone who has been to every server, you have such a dull in-game existence."
The glare passing from Seto's gaze actually heated Pegasus's skin. It wasn't of his own doing, but whatever control Seto had of the game was being manipulated into Pegasus's sensors. He had to turn them all down to zero for the conversation to continue.
"You want an adventure?" Seto asked, and from his tone, Pegasus nearly said no.
"I do."
"Fine."
Seto snapped his fingers and they were both pulled out of the bar and dropped into a new world, or so it seemed. The air around them was stifling, sweat crowning Pegasus's skin almost immediately, only noticeable with sensors off when he started dripping.
"Turn your sensors back on," Seto said.
Now how did he know Pegasus turned his off?
Pegasus did, but left them at forty percent.
He surveyed the space to attempt determining what sort of adventure Seto had in mind. It looked like they were inside of a volcano, standing off to the side of a lake of lava. The rocks underfoot were black and ashed, stretching out in a long path ahead to a wide set of stone doors. The carvings on them were as intricate as the tree had been, and while Pegasus was interested, he was also terrified.
There was no explanation for it. This was a game; he knew he couldn't die in a game.
"Here," Seto said, directing him to a wall of armor and weaponry, which only added to the fear.
"What's through there?"
Seto glanced at the doors. "Your chance to be a knight in shining armor. Get dressed."
The armor Seto picked out was lighter and would allow him to move more quickly, but he knew what they were going into and how to deal with it. Pegasus, who couldn't imagine it, went with something more durable, something what would resist a greater damage. They both took a sword, the hilt of Seto's blue and Pegasus's red, and Seto offered the choice of taking additional weaponry.
But before Pegasus could look it all over, a child, maybe seven or eight, ran by them, scroll in hand, and straight to the stone doors. They opened for him, and he slipped through as soon as the space was big enough.
A scream followed.
"Was that…we have to go help him," Pegasus said. He checked with Seto, who stared after the boy indifferently.
"Take your time. Nothing can really happen to him."
"Except he could be traumatized!" Pegasus said. He grabbed an extra dagger just in case and took off toward the doors, just as they had opened fully. Running was slower in the armor, but once he got through the doors, he understood the necessity for it.
The doors had enclosed a massive cave, filled with all manners of demons and monsters. The deeper Pegasus looked, the bigger they became. One of them, at the very far end, walked with a hunch so its head didn't graze the ceiling, which must have been twenty meters overhead.
And the boy was running directly at it.
"We have to stop him."
"It's fine. I'm sure he's in a quest."
"That doesn't matter. Come on."
The first part of the cave took them too long to fight their way through, and the demons hardly came up to their knees. Their ankles were soaked through with blood, black and thick, but if they stopped, the swarm would overcome them.
Seto fought through with a neutral expression, as if he had done this too many times before, but Pegasus was intent to find that boy before he saw too much.
Injuries stayed in the game, but nightmares didn't.
There was a short resting point after the first wave, and Pegasus shook off his feet so they would stop sliding with every step. Seto ignored the damage done to his own armor, but did wipe off his sword on a sleeve.
"How did the boy make it through?"
"There are enchantments around to ward them off. He could have made use of one."
"Is there a quest that comes down here?"
"There is." Seto shook his head and faced the next round. "You ready?"
"I have to be."
The next group they had to ax through was larger, tougher, fought with teeth and claws, with slim, strong muscles taking every angle to rip Pegasus and Seto down to ribbons. The heat filled Pegasus's nose, which was better than the blood spraying continually, but made fighting more difficult. It was only halfway through the wave he remembered breathing wasn't necessary here.
It wasn't necessary to keep his sensors turned on, and when one of the demons slashed through an uncovered portion of his leg, and he nearly crippled to the floor, Pegasus considered turning it off.
But Seto knew what he was talking about when he told him to keep them on. He knew the fight meant injury and pain.
Always a hundred.
One of the demons had cut Seto across his face, so his blood—a striking red against the black splattered over his lips. But Seto didn't bother with wiping it away, continuing striking down everything in his path. One glance and Pegasus knew getting too close would put him under Seto's blade as well.
Pegasus's back hit the floor before he processed the demon flying down at him, knocking him back into the rubble and bones below. It deactivated his ability to breathe and his death almost poured down on him, only stopped by a quick reflex bringing up his sword. It plunged through the demon and gushed blood, chunky and warm, on Pegasus's face and into his nose and mouth.
It was just a simulation, but that boy would nightmare as if it were real for the rest of his life.
Seto extended a hand to help him up, just a brief moment before they returned to the slaughter. Seto's sword dripped with just as much blood as Pegasus's, and by the time they made it to the next checkpoint, their armor was equally black.
"Final boss," Seto said. "Ready?"
Pegasus answered by leaving again, almost missing Seto's smirk.
The final boss was the demon that had reached the cave top. It roared and growled when they entered, and the young boy was on the ground, curled up into the smallest form he could get into. They arrived not a moment too soon, since the demon had a foot raised to step down onto him.
Why didn't the boy just sign off?
He remembered the dagger in time to throw it with all the force he could, and because it was a game, it landed solidly in the muscled leg, and soon the boy was as drenched in blood as Seto and Pegasus.
That hadn't been his intention, but it got the demon's attention away from the boy. It stormed toward them, and Seto sprinted right while Pegasus dodged left. The footsteps shook the ground and caused dust and rubble to sprinkle down. It clouded Pegasus's vision, but nothing could have hid that beast from sight.
Their swords were too small to do much damage. There had to be something he could use. The game would offer another solution aside from a straight-on, vain attack. They hardly reached its ankles. What was the choice there? Cut them down and hope it fell?
Seto ignored the demon and went after the boy. He grabbed him before the boy saw him coming and pulled him off the the side and behind a boulder. The demon turned to look, giving Pegasus the time to dive out and try cutting through that thick muscle.
His sword bounced back.
The dagger had gone through. Why not the sword?
The demon spun on Pegasus, billows of smoke flooding out of its nostril and mouth. Scrambling back was his only option, so Pegasus did. The checkpoint had closed off, but right beside it was a lava pool, and rocks had fallen down like step stones to the middle.
It was the only way back and the way Pegasus had to take. He jumped from one to the next, foot almost giving out when too much blood was underfoot. The heat built under his armor and the sweat made the clothing damp, and that felt even harder to fight through. But the demon was closing in.
Then Pegasus saw it. The far end of the lava pool was built up on an uneven pile of boulders, which would probably support his weight, but definitely not the demon's. Pegasus had to believe, because it was his only option, it was the answer he had searched for. The cave raised up over it, high enough even the demon would have to climb.
Pegasus began his ascent, rushing to get to the top before the demon crossed. It used the step stones. Why would it when it was a fire creature? Why, if not for the only conclusion.
The fire would hurt it.
So when Pegasus climbed up, he made sure to keep the lava below him. It bubbled and popped, shooting sparks and speckles of fire up onto Pegasus. He didn't have time to brush them off, but used their presence to fuel his climb. A few rocks gave when he stepped on them, and once, Pegasus almost fell off himself. But the image of the cowering child held his focus, and he reached the top before the demon swiped an arm at him.
Pegasus backed to the far end and brandished his sword to egg on the beast.
"Come get me."
It tried. But the moment its arms were on top of the rock pile and it tried pushing up higher to reach, the rocks gave, taking it down with them. Pegasus clung to the back of the cave, finding a narrow crack to hold onto while the ground disappeared.
The demon melted into the lava, and thankfully, the lava was thick enough it didn't splash all the way to Pegasus. He let go his hold and dropped the few meters to what was left of the rock pile. After checking to make sure the demon was vanquished, he crossed the lava path again to find the boy and Seto.
He guided them out of hiding and the boy presented him with a scroll. "Thank you, kind sir! Take this as your reward!"
The moment Pegasus took it, the boy disappeared, and a red gemstone, tall enough to reach Pegasus's waist appeared between them.
"What...?"
Seto snapped his fingers to clear away the blood, both red and black, before returning to his regular appearance.
"He was an NPC," Pegasus said. "You let me fight for an NPC."
"I told you. This was your adventure. You've won. Congratulations. Now you can go in peace."
Seto touched the gem and disappeared, so Pegasus did the same. It took them to a medieval city with people bustling around, and now, Pegasus assumed they were all NPCs.
He caught Seto by the arm when he saw him walking away. "That isn't fair."
"It's what you wanted. I gave you what you came for. And you didn't even have to go through the entire quest."
"That wasn't adventure. That was...it wasn't..."
Seto shook off his grip so he could move away. "I don't know what you're here for, Pegasus, but it's clearly not an adventure. I'm not your therapist."
And in another wave, Seto was gone. Pegasus cursed and screamed and no one so much as looked at him.
How had he been so wrong? Pegasus knew what he was here for, but the definition changed. The game wasn't the adventure; Seto was.
Seto was at the bar again, for a reason Pegasus couldn't explain. It resurfaced the idea of Seto being an NPC, but Pegasus shook it off. The events day's before didn't line up with any in-game quest, except for the final boss fight which was a part of a quest. But Pegasus didn't count that. Seto was real; he existed somewhere.
And for now, that somewhere was here.
"You came back," Seto said without looking.
"I want to know you, even if it's just in this bar."
"You got what you came for."
"Now I have a different reason."
Seto met his gaze and kept it steady, and it took all Pegasus had not to see his wife around those eyes. But the longer he looked, the more differences he saw in the hue, the shape, the attitude—everything. How had he seen Seto so often and not noticed? Had it been so long since Cecelia?
"Am I just a game to you?" Seto asked.
"I think…I think you're more real to me than anything out there."
Seto's laugh stopped the room. "Are you really so saccharine?"
"Absolutely I am."
After Seto finished his drink, he stood and signaled Pegasus to follow. "Don't dally."
So Pegasus didn't. He trailed after Seto through the back, past the server transfer doors, and out the backdoor. Pegasus had never bothered entering the alleyways in the virtual world, except for the one Seto had taken him to before. And although he couldn't imagine anyone needing to travel through them, the details were impeccable from the grooves in the bricks, the shadows stretched out, and the rubbish on the dusty, cracked concrete, ground.
"Does this mean you're going to keep coming back?" Seto asked. "Despite my best attempts to be rid of you?"
"That's the gist of it. Unless you want to tell me who you are in reality."
Seto paused and inclined his head to the ground, a spark of sadness tugging at his lips. He turned back to Pegasus for a breath, and said, "I don't exist in reality."
What?
Pegasus's next step stumbled and he had to balance himself to keep from falling into Seto. Seto who claimed he didn't exist. Seto who made Pegasus feel more alive than he had since she died.
There was a lake outside of the town, a railing around as if to prevent people from falling in. It seemed excessive for a virtual game, but Pegasus joined Seto in leaning against it, but picked at a flaking spot of paint.
"What do you mean?" he asked. The words didn't make any sense. How did a person not exist in reality?
For a moment, which in the blurred reality of the game, could have been an hour or a second, Pegasus thought Seto would close his mouth and never speak to him again. Out of everything so far, that had caused the greatest reaction, one negative and hurt. Pegasus told himself to withdraw the question, but he didn't.
"Seto Tomura died at eleven years old."
It explained why Pegasus hadn't been able to find anything. He hadn't been looking for a child.
"This world wasn't around eight years ago. How did you end up here?"
"My brother and I were adopted when I was eleven, when he was five." Seto paused and ran his hand over the railing once while staring at it, not Pegasus. "Only, I wasn't really adopted."
"How does that work?"
"You look so much like his son that he adopts you for your body and has no use for your mind."
"You're losing me."
The exasperation Pegasus had grown so familiar with returned, cutting through the shroud of sorrow.
"His son had been in a car accident, declared brain dead. But he wasn't. His mind was alive and living in here, before here was where you stand."
"He made you switch places."
"I didn't know what was happening. I think he drugged my tea, because I fell asleep at dinner and woke in the computer." Seto smiled, softly, and went on, "He told me this was my new world, handed over the controls, and left."
"He created the world then?"
"The process of transferring a mind to a computer, yes. It was a prototype at the time, and I've been making this," Seto said, gesturing out to the scene in front of them, "Ever since."
Pegasus wished the game really let him feel, because that deserved more of a response. The information processed as a data point and left him silent for less time than it had taken Seto to answer. "Who are you, Seto?"
"My body has been renamed Noa Kaiba."
"And your brother?"
Seto waved his hand and brought up a video in the space in front them. It was black and white, and pointed at a mansion's front door. Pegasus moved closer to share the view Seto did, and a few moments in, a young boy with short, messy black hair came out, backpack over his shoulder.
He was followed by Noa.
"I can see him twice a day on this feed."
"You can't talk to him?"
"Nothing has gone through. Gozaburo—Noa's father—must be monitoring closely."
It still didn't add up, and while Seto swiped away the video, Pegasus asked, "Why not tell people? Thousands come here daily."
"Even you thought I was an NPC."
If his story was true, he basically was.
"Someone would believe you. Or at least look into it."
"If he reboots the system, there's a good chance it would kill what's left of me. And I did try, once." He gave the words a beat to settle. "It proved it wouldn't work."
"Well I believe you. And I want to help. So tell me what to do."
Seto shook his head. "There's no simple option. To get me out means putting Noa back in, and Mokuba knows him as his brother, not me."
"But you don't want to stay here."
"Would you?"
If Seto didn't stop deflecting answers, Pegasus would—
—do nothing.
How could he walk away? Stand idle while a child had been held prisoner for so long? Seto was his adventure, which meant taking action back in reality.
"Do you have to go back inside your original body?"
"I'm hardly who I was now. It doesn't matter."
"You matter," Pegasus said. He put a hand on Seto's arm and kept it there when Seto stared down at it. "You matter, Seto. So tell me what you want to happen and I'll see it done."
"I want Mokuba to know me. I want to be his brother."
Which probably meant getting him back in his original body. Maybe he could find another for Noa? Surely someone existed out there who would rather live in virtual reality, and who would do so with a significant mass of wealth being given to his family. Pegasus could find a body. It would just be harder to get Noa out of Seto.
"Give me a week. I'll see it done."
Pegasus found Mokuba in the library, studying at a table tucked away in the back. His foot bounced against the leg of his chair, and every few seconds, he would stop working to glance anywhere but his books. He stared at his phone once, putting chin to table gazing cross-eyed at it, dragging his finger over the lock screen again and again.
No time like the present.
Pegasus plucked the first book he came to off the shelf and sat catty-corner from Mokuba.
Mokuba lifted his head and pointedly stared at the other open tables.
"I'm a friend of Seto," Pegasus said. He opened the book, a field-guide on various plants, and kept his gaze down so he didn't come off too strong.
"Seto's dead."
"Is he, now?"
There was no need to look to see Mokuba's glare. Pegasus felt it in every trace of his skin, oozing underneath and coursing through his blood. It reminded him of the heat of Seto's glare and almost made him smile, even though this would have been a dreadful time for it.
"Yeah. He's dead."
The words were too tired for a child to have to know.
"What if I told you he wasn't? That he was just…stuck?"
"I'd say you're full of shit."
Pegasus pulled back a bit at the language. He likely didn't have long before Mokuba summoned whoever his babysitter was. And his last attempt wasn't any more convincing than his first. "I'm sorry. I know you shouldn't have to hear it like this. But he wants to know you, to be a part of your life, to come home."
"You're telling me he's alive. Niisama is alive," Mokuba said, voice flat and scared. "He's been alive this whole time?"
"Trapped in that virtual reality world that's all the rage."
"I've never been allowed inside. He said I wasn't old enough, that I couldn't—"
Pegasus almost reached out a comforting hand for Mokuba, but knew without needing to that it was crossing a line. Mokuba didn't know him. He had no reason to believe him.
"Seto asked me to tell you some things, facts to prove it's him."
Mokuba shook his head. "I hardly remember him. I probably couldn't verify any of it."
That admission devastated Pegasus on Seto's behalf. If he had been eleven, then Mokuba would have been just past his toddler years. It made sense, but hurt.
"He wants to get out."
"How? He hasn't been here…he's dead."
Pegasus closed his book, but kept his distance. "It is very complicated, but I need your help."
"To get him out?"
"Your brother, Noa, is using Seto's body. I can find a second body for one of them, but they will have to decide who gets which one."
"Who decides…" Mokuba couldn't finished the thought, He put his face in his hands and pressed until his hands shook. He started to cry, and even though Pegasus had caused the tears, he couldn't regret them. This needed to happen for everyone.
"Can you do that for me? I haven't been able to get a meeting with him."
"Noa's…wearing Seto?"
"He is."
"That's so weird. And, and awful."
"He might not know," Pegasus said. It was clear Noa and Mokuba were close, and Pegasus couldn't believe Seto wanted to break that bond, only become a part of it.
"So I should talk to him. And see if we can find Seto?"
"I can find Seto," Pegasus said. "But we need to find a place for him out here."
Mokuba nodded. "Okay. If you're telling the truth, we'll do it. Let's get Seto."
There was something to be said for a child's trusting nature.
"Just take a moment.
"Breathe.
"Do you feel that?
"The air coming in, filling your chest, keeping you alive?
"What about that chill on your skin? Do you feel it rolling down the back of your neck, dripping along your spine?
"I bet there's an ache in your back. You've been there for a while. I guess it wasn't you then.
"Breathe again, Seto. Remember how.
"Your heart is beating. It's yours again, exactly where you left it. Can you feel each pulse, the ticks that count each moment you have lived?
"You're alive again.
"Breathe."
Seto embraced the rush of air filling his lungs and the pressure in his chest when it was full. He held it in, held in the first true sensation in eight years, and only let out an exhale in a slow stream when his veins threatened to burst.
He could feel everything. If he focused, he could find sensation in the skin on his arms or the tops of his knees. There were small chill bumps along the side of his neck and they tingled behind his ears. His blood raced and his heart pounded to send it on.
He was alive.
More than being conscious, Seto was alive.
He opened his eyes and half-expected the world to blur, but it was clear and strong. Pegasus leaned over the pod with a hand on Seto's arm, his appearance the same as it was in the game, except for the eye normally covered by his hair. It was missing in reality.
"You lied," Seto said. His voice filled his senses for a moment, actually hearing himself rather than understanding alone.
"About what?" Pegasus asked. He moved his hand.
"Your eye."
"And you said you were no one of importance."
Seto flexed his fingers and enjoyed the tightness in his joints, the crack of two of the knuckles, the cool touch of fingertip to palm. He stretched them to feel the pull of tendons and muscles, the tight give of his skin. His hands were his again.
"Where's Mokuba?"
Pegasus smiled. "I thought you might ask first. He's in the next room over. I figured you would want to test yourself before stumbling into him."
"I'm sure Noa stayed fairly fit."
He sat upright and felt the pain Pegasus had mentioned experiencing in his lower back, more pressure than pain, like it had been stuck in the wrong position for too long. His head was heavy and his hair tickled at the sides of his face and his eyes. Seto brushed it back and took note of the fine hairs beneath his fingertips, smooth and straight, and then the almost unnoticeable hairs on his skin.
The precision of every sensation overcame him momentarily, and he forgot whether he was supposed to answer Pegasus on something or if he was waiting for an answer. The triviality of it refused to matter.
Seto was alive again.
"Come on," Pegasus said, extended a hand to help Seto out of the pod. "Let's get you to your brother."
"What does he think of Noa?"
"As a general stance or—"
"Of what we did to him."
Pegasus nodded and backed away when Seto was on his feet. "He's confused and hurt. But a lot of it is from having been lied to all this time." Pegasus paused before adding, "He did say he noticed when you started to act differently."
Seto could hardly be grateful for that little detail when Mokuba was practically a stranger to him. He had to hope in everything he could, that Mokuba wouldn't hold this against him. If he had known, if there was any way he could have stopped this—
"Ready?"
Seto followed Pegasus, making a half-formed note that it was the first time he had been the one trailing, out to a hallway, and into an immediate waiting room, where Mokuba sat impatiently.
He lifted his gaze to Seto and held it, and Seto couldn't fathom what might have been going through his mind. Mokuba knew this body as Noa. He knew this person as his brother, but just the wrong one.
"You really Seto?"
"It's me, Mokie"
Mokuba stood and came over, careful steps and guarded expression. He cocked his head and craned back to look Seto straight in the eye. "What toy did you beat up those kids to get back?"
"An airplane."
The breath that followed shook and filled Mokuba's lungs enough Seto could see it through his shirt, and then he fell around Seto into a hug. Seto couldn't hold himself together much longer, but picked up Mokuba, so much bigger now than before, and held him close.
"I d-didn't…I didn't know."
"I know, kid. I know."
It took Mokuba several minutes to work through the tears and the sniffling, but when he did, he stayed in Seto's arms, but turned to Pegasus. "Where's Noa?"
"Next room over. Probably getting acquainted with his new form."
Seto was curious and Mokuba eager to check on him, and after fighting down the overwhelming sense of jealousy, Seto carried Mokuba down the hall to the room beside the one he had woken in. There was only one person in the room, and it must have been Noa.
He and Seto stared at each other for a long while. It was Mokuba who finally broke the silence.
"Are you okay?"
"Not the first time I've taken a new body. Dad's going to be pissed."
Seto's hatred for Noa bubbled up and the only thing keeping him grounded was Mokuba. Mokuba had eight years with Noa. Seto was hardly more than his childhood dream, an imaginary friend he had tried to outgrow. As much as Seto didn't want to admit to it, Noa was Mokuba's brother.
The body Pegasus had found for him didn't look as close to his original body as Seto's did, but there was some resemblance. If he dyed his hair green, he might be able to pass it off as plastic surgery. Seto would have to change his own appearance as well, but starting by stripping the green out of his hair.
Noa approached and offered a hand to Seto. "He told me you agreed. That it was the trade to get Mokuba out of the orphanage."
That didn't make it any better.
"You believe an eleven year old should be allowed to make that call?"
"Then? I trusted Dad. Now? Hell no."
The handshake was hesitant, but got a smile from Mokuba. They would have to make it work for his sake.
A new bar became their meeting spot, only this one was real. The alcohol had flavor and the bar smelled of smoke and spilled beers that had sat in the cracks for too long. And like always, Seto sat at the far end of the bar with drink in hand.
"Come here often?"
"Not if you keep making that joke."
Pegasus sat beside him and called for his drink, just like they did every Friday night. Seto's ID said he was twenty-one, which hadn't been too difficult to pass off since he had been forced to make new sets of paperwork under his new name.
Seto Kaiba.
"Still clashing with the father?"
"Not so much. The VR still brings in a steady stream of revenue, so he couldn't argue with me much."
"And the fact he basically killed you?"
"I hold it over his head with pride."
"Of course you do," Pegasus said with a grin. He almost scanned his wrist to pay for his drink before remembering they weren't in the game. This called for his wallet, his real money, an exchange of actual goods.
"And Mokuba?"
"He's getting used to me. It still feels like," Seto said, pausing for a moment before finishing with the slightest trace of amusement, "It feels like he's having to force it."
"It's only been a month. He'll come around."
Seto took a sip and his body language seemed to agree. "He's giving a lot of effort."
"And you aren't still adjusting?"
"I never said I wasn't."
They finished their drinks without much more of a comment, only some idle small talk about business and such. Seto tapped his fingers, both against the glass and the bar top, against his arm and his other hand. He kept rolling his neck side to side, and eventually, put down his glass.
"I'm going to take a walk."
"I'll join you."
They headed out and down the busy street, so different from the old-style world from the VR, and crossed the intersection toward the downtown area.
KaibaCorp loomed overhead when Seto spoke again, "Is it strange for you, not having to adjust sensors to feel sensation? To feel everything, fully, and never be able to stop?"
"People go into VR for a reason."
Seto crossed his arms and asked, "Who was yours?"
A breeze brushed over them, revealing the eye Pegasus lost so long ago. He closed it while waiting for his veil to return, and connected with Seto with the eye that lived.
"My wife, Cecelia. She passed away, died, when I was seventeen."
"Losing someone so close never gets easier," Seto said in understanding. He smoothed his hair back down, the brown contrasting with the blue to remind Pegasus yet again that Seto wasn't Cecelia.
"Everything here just feels so, it's just…empty," Pegasus said. "Like my sensors couldn't leave zero."
"What if neither world ever feels real?" Seto asked. He did so with a heavy voice, like the sentiment had been hanging over him for too long.
"You find someone, something, who does."
Seto laughed again, for the first time since the virtual bar. It was real. Seto was real.
"Then it's my turn to search for adventure?"
"Just let me know if you're looking for a guide."
The moment of quiet Seto left this time didn't sound so distressed. He glanced up at KaibaCorp, and the glance became a stare.
"Are you real, Pegasus?"
"I'm as real as you want me to be."
To intheshadowofsignificance, who has been the truest friend a person could ask for.