Me: HOLY CRAP I'M IN THE FINALE OF COMPY'S CONTEST. That's right – this is the final round of Season Three!!!! HOLY IRONIC NICKNAMES, BATMAN! Indeed, for my opponent in the finale is none other than my beloved Shadow over Egypt! (Get it, Hikari vs. Shadow? Hahaha… we've struck up a whole YGO-RP in the forum where she's Yami and I'm Yugi and we're off for her lost memories… it's hilarious.)
Oh, right, the final shipping? Get ready, it's a total crack pairing – Fillershipping, Noa Kaiba x Rebecca Hawkins. XP W. T. F.
Post-DOMA, but vague timeframe afterwards. Third person POV, focusing on Rebecca. I tried to keep both characters IC, but it's difficult as they're two of the vaguest people in the series… arguably, as Noa interrupted Battle City, not so much, but considering they've never even met, it does make things difficult. Also, this sticks to the sub names (Hawkins, Solomon, et cetera) because I'm not sure if Rebecca's sub name is Hopkins or not… (sheepish grin) But sub events from Noa's arc!
Disclaimer: Hikari Daeron does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any affiliations. This work was written exclusively for the aforementioned contest.
Lily
I should never have asked for forgiveness. It was wrong of me. What I did is a crime inexcusable, no matter how badly I wish for repentance.
I should be punished.
I must be.
After everything she had gone through, Rebecca Hawkins couldn't believe that she was reduced to working for Seto Kaiba.
Well, it couldn't be helped, really. After the whole Dartz-fiasco and the little mishap that ended in her grandfather's kidnapping and the burning down of his lab and home, she should have been grateful. After all, living in a trailer and looking for a job when she should be finishing college wasn't exactly the glamorous life.
Besides, it paid well, and hell, who wouldn't want a recommendation from the Kaiba brothers?
It wasn't Kaiba's idea himself to hire her. If he had had his way, she would not have heard from him, not then, not as long as he could help it. After all, what reason had he to ask for her help? Seto Kaiba refused any and all help that was offered to him.
No, it was Mokuba Kaiba's decision, to send for her. Kaiba Corporation was virtually destroyed after Dartz's takeover. Its reputation, its stock and its files had been in shambles. Mokuba, worried as ever over his brother's workaholic schedule, demanded that he hire people to help him in this task. It was one thing to single-handedly change an already successful company's field, quite another to practically rebuild one.
Kaiba had protested, of course. Mokuba had picked Rebecca out because of her hacking skills during the Dartz incident, which had lead Kaiba to say that he didn't want a girl that skillful anywhere near his files. Wittily, Mokuba replied that it was better to buy Rebecca off and use her to their advantage than to fear what she might say or do.
That shut him up.
So, despite her misgivings, despite her pride, Rebecca took the job. They flew her and her grandfather to Domino so that she could work easily, and even rented out a flat for them to live in. It beat living in a trailer, and meanwhile, Arthur Hawkins could focus on spending more time with his old friend, Solomon Motou.
Her job was interesting enough, anyway. She was to go through the Kaiba Corp files and sort them, protecting the ones that were confidential and important and leading false traces to faux information for any potential hacker. Stuff like that.
Yet something inside rankled. Later, she wondered if that was her better sense warning her against what was to come. But she didn't think anything could have prepared her for that.
"Jeez, you'd think they'd go through their records every now and then," muttered Rebecca, coughing as she kicked up dust into the air. She was in some nondescript storage room that held the hard and backup copies of various Kaiba Corp files. The room was dark, dank and dusty. A low light shone when she flipped the switch, surprising her (she thought it would be blown). The low ceiling made tiny Rebecca feel slightly claustrophobic, so she hurriedly went to the back of the room to find what she was looking through. She jiggled the handle of the cabinet, which creaked open as rust flakes floated to the floor. Sighing, she scanned the shelves until she saw a stack of CDs and several external hard drives, which she took and placed into her bag. Quickly, Rebecca darted out of the room and locked it behind her.
It was one of the more remote areas, full of the files that Kaiba hadn't destroyed when he had taken over the company. Its ordinary visage was a perfect cover, and under the circumstances he had fairly forgotten it existed…
Rebecca left the warehouse-like building and walked to the red convertible waiting for her outside. It was the one that Kaiba had bought on the Kaiba brothers' flight when their company had been taken over by Dartz. They lent it to her while she worked for them, and usually she and her grandfather would arrange it so that he would drop off while she worked and pick her up again when he was done visiting old friends. It was convenient, and saved her loads of time.
She greeted her waiting grandfather warmly before hopping in shotgun. As they drove through the quiet streets of Domino, Rebecca marveled how peaceful the city was once it wasn't be threatened by various madmen. The city became almost hushed, as if concealing a big secret…
The blonde sighed and propped her chin on her palm, elbow on the frame of the car, watching the city tumble idly pass. It was nice being back in Domino certainly, making Téa jealous over Yugi, watching as Joey and Tristan made fools of themselves, but –
What's missing
When she was younger, immersed in her teddy bear, stuffed animals and dolls, Rebecca had been a huge romantic. Even when picking up Duel Monsters for the first time, she would imagine heroic situations when she would duel to stay alive. She often saw her herself dueling with failing hopes while her life points dwindled, when suddenly someone came and shouted some encouragement which caused her to win, and then they would live together happily ever after, they end.
Then Rebecca grew up, a bit. She went to duel Yugi Motou for her grandfather's card – she didn't understand such concepts as 'honour' or 'pride' then, and would never have known that a more appropriate motive would have been to fight for her grandfather's honour as a duelist – and as opposed to coming out triumphant, with a Blue Eyes White Dragon in her deck, she came out as a winner because Yugi was too kind to let her lose. And that duel had changed her, made her abandon her childhood fantasies and take up the mantle that every True Duelist eventually did.
She knew that she would continue to grow, and thus find out what was truly needed in life. But as for the present…
There's something just not right
A bit of the dreamer still in her, Rebecca couldn't help but briefly speculate if it was love, the thing that was missing. She almost immediately banished the thought. For a while, she had a huge crush on Yugi, but now, it was proper friendship and she mainly used it to needle Téa, anyway. Now, there was no one that she looked to in such a way.
She didn't think it was friendship, either. Rebecca had very few close friends, but she truly liked Yugi's group, and ever since the Dartz incident, she and Duke Devilin had maintained a steady contact.
So then –
The car paused at a red light, engine humming softly. The breeze picked up and ruffled her blonde hair. A group of kids were kicking a ball on the sidewalk, their laughter echoing on otherwise empty streets. As the light changed and Arthur Hawkins accelerated, someone's mother called from within the closed door.
Rebecca had grown up parentless, and it was something that had ceased to dwell in her thoughts. She regretted their deaths, but she could not miss something she had never known. Besides, her grandfather had been an absolute angel in raising her. How could she be ungrateful?
At last, they reached their apartment complex. After entering their apartment, Rebecca immediately set off for the kitchen, placing the kettle to boil and making preparations for a snack for her grandfather. When he was comfortably settled, she took her own cup of tea and the stack of materials from the warehouse to her room.
For someone whose room in America had once been decorated with teddy bears and ponies, Rebecca's new room was deceivingly plain, despite assurances from the Kaibas that she would be there for a while, and thus could personalize it. The walls were a dull lavender, her dresser and bed set plain and wooden. There was a bookshelf to one side, and a desk stacked with papers and her laptop near it. Otherwise, the only personal items were three pictures: one her bedside table of the parents she had never known; one on her dresser of her and her grandfather; and one on her desk of Yugi-tachi (her included) in America, right after everyone's souls had been restored.
Rebecca placed her mug on her dresser and dumped her load onto her bed. Quickly, she sorted through the papers on her desk and then organized herself. Grabbing her cup, she inserted a CD and began to go through its contents, making note of things while she did so.
Several hours later, Rebecca had accomplished more than she had expected, having gone through nearly half of the CDs in her pile. She yawned, stretched and glanced at the clock, surprised at the lateness of the hour. While she prepared for bed, she skimmed through the pile of notes on her desk, highlighting things here and there for later notice.
While she lay in her bed and drifted off to sleep, the same question came to her again:
Why do I feel like there's something more that I'm not seeing?
You changed me. You welcomed me into your life and were willing to understand me, even when no one else could. Everything about you was like a sun that lit up my darkened soul. Your smile made me feel warm and your laugh made me happier, every time I heard it.
For this, I am eternally sorry. For learning to care when it was too late, for not being able to offer you what you needed. I am sorry for bringing you into my life, though I have to be frank, and thank you for bringing me into yours.
The next morning, Rebecca finished off the rest of the CDs. Scanning her written notes, she smirked in satisfaction. I totally own at life.
Rebecca picked up one of the external hard drives and examined it for any labels. It was ordinary enough, just a plain old silver rectangular prism. She flipped it over. On her first scan she saw nothing; but suddenly, in the corner, she saw engraved there two initials: N.K.
The blonde frowned slightly. N.K.? What could that possibly stand for? Anything she came up with was ridiculous – No kicking, nine kooks, none killed, et cetera. Shrugging to herself, she was about to attach a USB chord to both it and her laptop when –
"Rebecca! It's Yugi on the telephone! He wants you to visit with him this afternoon!"
She turned at her grandfather's voice, placing the storage device on her desktop. "Tell him I'm leaving right now!" Rebecca plugged the USB chord to her computer before walking out of the room. She did not notice the window that popped up on her screen, and the small, inhuman voice stirring from the confines of years of darkness.
"Hello?"
"Thanks again guys! I'll see you later!" said Rebecca cheerfully, entering her apartment complex with a wave. She sighed happily; her afternoon out with Yugi-tachi had gone splendidly well, and she decided that she wouldn't work on the rest of the Kaiba Corp files until the next day. Satisfied with her plan, she went up to her apartment, prepared to make dinner for herself and her grandfather.
To her surprise, Arthur had already ordered out, and was waiting for her at the table. Gleefully, she washed up and joined him, both of them enjoying the fine cuisine he had chosen.
"How was your day out?"
"It was a lot of fun!" Rebecca chirped, biting into her chicken with an unusual amount of gusto. "We went to the arcade for like an hour, before hopping over to Burger Town for lunch. We talked a lot about Duel Monsters and our adventures and stuff…" She recalled how briefly Yugi had glossed over various parts of the Dartz affair, how he didn't even mention the first duel between Pharaoh and Raphael, which had resulted in Yugi's own soul being taken. "Well, anyway," she added hastily, "it was fun. What about you?"
"I visited Seto and Mokuba Kaiba today," said her grandfather, sipping his glass of wine.
Rebecca nearly choked on her food. She coughed and drank some water before weakly saying, "What? Why?"
Arthur smiled calmly. "I just wanted to make sure everything was right in your work schedule, as you've been working particularly hard lately," he said, "and because I wanted to see the true Blue Eyes White Dragon master."
That reassured her. She smiled and shook her head. Despite his years, Arthur Hawkins was still a fan of the children's card game.
After dinner, Rebecca trooped off to her room. She fell on her bed, ready to curl up with a good book for a few hours before turning in. However, a blinking red light caught her eye. Turning, Rebecca saw that she had left the storage device attached to her computer. Groaning, the blonde rolled out of bed and walked up to her laptop, tapping the touchpad so that she could turn it off –
"AHH– " Rebecca clamped her hand to her mouth, muffling her shout of surprise.
Footsteps. She spun around, blocking the screen from view. "Rebecca?" gasped her grandfather. "Are you alright?"
"Fine!" she said breathlessly. "I, er – stubbed my toe! Ahh – ouch!"
He chuckled and left the room, calling back, "Well, be more careful next time."
She watched as he left, before walking up to the door and shutting it firmly. Slowly, she turned to face her laptop.
On her screen, lying on a bed, sleepy eyes blinking rapidly, lay the image of a boy.
He looked to be around her age, with sparkling blue-gray eyes. His hair was messy, bangs sticking in random directions and layered multihued green hair flying out. He smiled softly, bringing up a delicate hand to run thin fingers through his unruly hair. "You must be Rebecca," he said in a soft voice. "Hi. I'm Noa Kaiba."
Rebecca outright stared.
The boy chuckled, rising out of his bed to reveal plain off-blue pajamas. "I'm sorry, I went through your files to figure out where I was," he said apologetically. "And since 'Rebecca Hawkins' popped up on most of them, and there were several pictures with someone who looks like you, I assumed you were the owner of this computer and that you are, indeed, Rebecca. I hope you don't mind – I didn't meant to invade your privacy, but I was so desperately confused…"
After another moment of staring, Rebecca brought up her hand and began to smile. Her 'guest' looked at her in confusion. First a small chuckle, then a giggle, then pure mirth rang through the room. Rebecca threw back her head and outright laughed, unable to contain herself.
"Oh – it's the shock, I suppose. I suspect you didn't expect to see a human living inside of that hard drive… a normal reaction. I don't blame you; it must be shocking."
She gasped – he was talking! To her! Some random person lived inside of a storage device and was named Noa Kai –
"Kaiba!" she shrieked. He looked at her curiously. "You said your name was Noa Kaiba!" she said, staring. "But that means – "
Rebecca leaped to the computer and flipped the external hard drive over. N.K. Noa Kaiba.
"Yes, I am a Kaiba, a real one, not adopted. Gozaburo Kaiba was my father, and before I died he managed to – "
"Died?!" Rebecca screeched. "How – how can you be dead but…"
He smiled. "My father uploaded my mind to a supercomputer before I died. I made a spare copy several years later to a nondescript hard drive, just in case anything ever happened to me or the computer. This must be the spare copy. Tell me, what has happened since then? The last thing I remember is the copy – afterwards, I assume my original self went off and lived as he – I – did. Do you know what has become of my original self?"
Rebecca fell onto her bed, staring across from her, at her bookshelf. "There's a boy – a dead boy – living inside of one of the Kaiba Corp hard drives. He is talking to me. This is the cruelest practical joke that's ever been played."
A sigh came from the computer. "Well, if you really can't help me, I suppose I'll roam the Internet until – "
"Hey, not so fast," said the blonde, grabbing the laptop and spinning it so that it faced her. Noa looked at her curiously, button-down shirt halfway on. She ignored his half-nakedness. "I want details," she demanded. "Considering everything that's happened recently, it's not totally unbelievable that you were once living. Just… highly improbable." She exhaled deeply. "You got it right, Noa – I'm Rebecca Hawkins. I sure as hell can tell you my life story, but something tells me that yours will be infinitely more interesting."
He had been looking at her quizzically, before smiling. He finished buttoning his shirt and a chair materialized, which he sat in. "From shock to curiosity?" he said, crossing his legs. "Well, alright then. And maybe throughout our stories we can establish some sort of way for me to figure out just what has happened to my original self."
"You don't know how weird that sounds."
"You don't know how weird that feels, knowing that somewhere in the world there is a copy of me roaming around, doing as he pleases, and that I'm not even the original."
She had to admit, it must be odd. "Good point," she said. "But now, seriously – you're Gozaburo Kaiba's son? Legitimate son?"
"Once a Kaiba, always a Kaiba, I'm afraid," said Noa, sighing, with an attempt to blow his bangs out of his face. Needless to say, they flopped back into his eyes. "I was Gozaburo's only heir. My mother was unable to have any more children, so Gozaburo raised me to one day take his place. But then when I was about ten years old I was in a horrible accident, which very soon afterwards resulted in my death. Gozaburo adopted Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, the former of whom was to take my place as heir to Kaiba Corporation. My father assured me that he would be trained until he was a suitable opponent for me, pushing me to excel beyond my limit. Obviously, I believed him; at first, I did not really mind that I was to have siblings. In fact, I almost welcomed it from the solitude that I had kept, growing up. But then… well, weeks turned into years, and suddenly I decided that I should make a copy of myself, in some ordinary looking something, just in case. Why 'just in case' I can't quite remember… I think I began to harbour resentment, but it was so close to my copy…" Noa shrugged. "I have lain dormant in that small, insignificant piece of hardware ever since, my stupor unbroken. Waking up now and exploring the cyber world, I have come to the conclusion that my original self has moved, lost power, or been erased. Otherwise, I know I would have tried to repress my copy or merge it back with my original self…"
Rebecca exhaled slowly, staring unblinkingly at Noa. Well, slap me and call me a fool, she thought. I actually believe him.
"Mokuba?"
Mokuba Kaiba spun around, looking for the person who had called him. To his pleasant surprise, he saw Rebecca Hawkins jogging up to him. He smiled at her as she approached. "Hey, Rebecca, what's up? Not asking for a raise, are you?" he teased.
She grinned. "Well, now that you mention it…" She waved a hand and shook her head. "No, no, we can talk about that another time. I actually… well, I have some questions to ask you."
Mokuba arched a brow. "Questions?"
"I – well." Rebecca looked a bit uncomfortable. She looked around them several times before dropping her voice and saying, "Look, can we go talk someplace private? Just you and me? I have a feeling that what I'm going to say isn't going to be taken exactly well…"
The younger Kaiba looked at her quizzically before nodding. "Alright, if you insist…" He exhaled then hailed a taxi. "Well look, I'm starving, so I figure we can grab a bite to eat in one of my favourite café's. I'd say my place, but I think Seto would find it a little suspicious for us to go hide away in my room, so, as they say, people hardly see what's right in front of their noses."
The blonde nodded and sighed softly. It was better than nothing, she supposed.
"You saw who?!" snapped Mokuba, upsetting his drink as he twitched violently. Groaning, he quickly mopped up the mess before it could spread. "No way. No effing way did you see who I thought you said you saw."
Rebecca sighed. "He told me that his name was Noa Kaiba, am I supposed to assume he's lying?"
"Noa's dead, Rebecca," said the other flatly. "He's been dead."
"Yes, he told me that," she said calmly. "But – "
"No, you don't understand," said Mokuba. He pushed his plate aside and leaned forward. "Noa had the accident, his mind was locked away in a supercomputer, and he died. Then after our little adventure in the virtual world, he died again."
Rebecca opened her mouth, then closed it slowly. "He told me he copied himself – "
"What, before our adventures? And how did he manage that, without any access to the cyber world and external hard drives? How did he manage with Gozaburo watching him like a hawk, even if he wasn't interacting with him? Did he even mention his relationship with my adopted father, in detail, or our little mishap in his virtual world?"
The blonde began to blink rapidly. For some reason, she felt overwhelmingly betrayed, and now she had the desire to –
It took Rebecca several weeks to approach Mokuba. In those two weeks, she spent her time locked in her room, talking to Noa. She felt like she truly knew him, truly understood him like no one had cared to before. She was beginning to connect to Noa on a level that no one else had even attempted with her. He had been willing to listen to her, to understand her and, she knew, he cared for her as well. He was smart, he was witty, he was sweet and truly, a good person. His smile made her feel warm and his laughter sent shivers down her spine. Noa Kaiba had filled the vacancy inside of her and she was happy, genuinely so, when she spoke with him.
No one else could claim that much.
"Do you know what happened to us, during Battle City?" said Mokuba softly. "He tricked us into his virtual world, and, with the Big Five – you know, that group that Pegasus hired during Duelist Kingdom to get rid of me and my brother?" She nodded; she had heard the story often enough. "Yeah, well, they were all trapped in that world, and they wanted to come into our world with our bodies. Noa wanted to lock my brother in his cyber land and take over Kaiba Corp through his body. He brainwashed me against Seto, and then took over my body. The only time he redeemed himself was the last time I spoke to him, right before he died. And even as I pity him, I can't help but wonder if he ever repented."
Rebecca stared at him, and found herself violently shaking her head, mind racing, thoughts wheeling out of control. "He's changed," she heard herself pleading. "He had to have changed, he would never – "
"You sure about that?" He sighed as she continued to look at him blankly. "Look, Rebecca, I can't judge him without talking to him. He can't lie to me like he can a complete outsider, I'm his adopted brother and after everything he did to me, I deserve the truth. So if he is hiding anything, I'll find out."
Rebecca felt her head pound, a vague feeling of detachment forming inside of her. A complete outsider?
"Rebecca?"
She realized that she had fallen into a brooding silence, and blinked. "Er – yeah, meet him. Now?"
The other shrugged. "Sure, why not? The sooner we get this sorted out, the better."
Mokuba stepped inside of Rebecca's room as she closed the door behind her. He slowly made his way to the laptop that sat propped on her bed. He touched the touch pad.
Instantly, the screen turned on. Noa turned from reading a book and said, "Oh, Rebecca! You're back ho – " He trailed off as he saw Mokuba in front of her. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "My name's Noa. Who are you?"
The younger Kaiba was frozen, staring at the screen with wide, unblinking eyes. Rebecca saw him pale, staring incredulously at the screen. "Noa?" he whispered. "Oh my God…"
The green-haired boy cocked his head. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
Mokuba said, haltingly, "I'm – Mokuba, Noa. Mokuba – Kaiba."
On screen, Noa froze, the book he had been holding slipping out of his grasp. "Mokuba?" he gasped. "Oh my God… my adopted brother?!"
The two stared at each other before Noa said gleeful, "You exist! Gozaburo didn't make you up! You're really alive! You and your brother?" He posed the last part in a question,
"Seto's definitely not dead, as you well know."
"Somehow I did know that… Gozaburo never introduced us or showed me what you two looked like, I had no idea whether or not you actually – "
"How are you alive?!" demanded Mokuba, cutting him off. "You sacrificed yourself to save us! How can you possibly still be here?!"
Noa frowned, slowly sitting on the edge of his bed. "What do you mean? I copied myself – "
"B.S.," shot Mokuba. "How do you copy yourself."
His adopted brother smirked slightly. "Like you do any other file."
"Yeah, sure, whatever, but to a regular old hard drive? The Noa Kaiba I knew had more class than that."
Noa brightened. "Did we meet? Really? What happened?"
Mokuba stared at him. "You really don't remember everything that happened in the virtual world with the Big Five, don't you?"
The other frowned again. "Big Five? As in, my father's board members?" He groaned and placed his hands to his head. "This is giving me a terrible headache… why does it sound so familiar?"
Mokuba's shoulders drooped, and he turned back to Rebecca. He shook his head. "I can't tell him," he whispered. "He isn't the same Noa that I knew. I just can't."
Rebecca couldn't help but smile, relieved. "Told you," she said pointedly. "But – " Suddenly, inspiration struck her. She bent over and whispered into Mokuba's ear. His blue-gray eyes, a shade more purple than Noa's, sparkled. He nodded animatedly.
"Noa," said Rebecca, beaming, "Mokuba and I think it can be done – how would you like to have your own body again?"
Noa stared.
"We can probably make a sort of artificial body," said Mokuba eagerly. "Sort of robotic, but as lifelike as possible. We could upload your mind to it – it would be like living again!"
Noa fell back onto his bed. "To go back to the outside world…" he whispered. "That could be like a dream come true…"
"Then don't wake up, Noa," pleaded Rebecca. "Let us build this dream and bring you back where you belong. You can't stay there forever!"
Noa sat up, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Yes, Rebecca. I will enter your dream world, so that I won't be in mind. Let's build my new body."
That was how it began, how Noa, Rebecca and Mokuba became a tight-nit unit. Rebecca couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy whenever she saw the brothers laughing together, chatting about things she could never comprehend or sympathize with. She tried to brush it off, but as the weeks began to grow in number she realized that she was doing a very poor job of it.
Through Kaiba Corp's virtual technology, Noa was able to appear in the real world as a lifelike hologram. The first time he did, he ran around the laboratory they had moved to, exploring everything like a newborn puppy. Rebecca had – without malice – laughed at the site until he came and tried to take her hands in his… it hadn't been very funny, then.
Little by little, everything began to fall into place. Noa's body was making great progress, and Noa himself said that he was happier than he had been in a long time. Mokuba was genuinely happy to get to know his new brother better, and Rebecca…
Well, Rebecca couldn't wait until she could hug him in the flesh, that's all. There was a lot they needed to talk about, once she could see him without his face wavering in and out of existence, without being able to reach out and touch him. So, she had waited this long. She could wait a little longer, even though it wasn't to be a long time.
That is, until the day that Noa asked Mokuba to upload his memories for him.
"You want me to what?!"
"Not all of your memories, Mokuba," he reassured him. "Just the virtual world, the one I made you and everyone else come to during Battle City. I want to know. I need to."
Mokuba and Rebecca had glanced at each other, worried. They had told Noa all about their harebrained adventures, but had not even glossed over this particular section of their story. Neither of them could bear to tell Noa what a monster he had been in the past.
But Noa was particularly insistent. After a week of arguing, Mokuba agreed – warning Noa all the while. Noa didn't care. "I need to know this, Mokuba," he said stubbornly. "I have to. It's my responsibility to know what I was like, and deal with it in my own way. Why should you be the only one to carry the burden?"
And so, Mokuba had uploaded his memories of the event. Noa went to watch them play out, taking over a week before he returned.
All the while, Rebecca had been extremely nervous, heart jumping at any noise, restlessly moving about the lab and the city. She and Mokuba had left Noa alone for the time being, but she couldn't help but worry…
I've always held a great fascination with white lilies. Growing up, they were the flowers I used to plant with my mother in the backyard, even when my father looked at us disapprovingly. After the accident, the last thing I could remember seeing was an image of a white lily, slipping from my mother's hand.
"Mokuba. Rebecca. I need to speak with you both."
Rebecca spun around joyfully. "Noa! You're back!"
Noa was standing before them as a hologram. Rebecca's smile faded as she saw his grim expression. "What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's – " Noa cut himself off. He turned around and began to pace. "I've made a very important decision, and I need you two to promise to carry it out."
Rebecca was about to swear that she would when Mokuba said, "What kind of decision?"
Noa turned. He had a somber expression. "You know what I'm talking about."
For the first time since she had known him, Rebecca heard Mokuba swear. "No, Noa! How can you be so selfish?!" he snapped after his tirade of swears. "You can't do this to me – us – her!"
"I must."
"No you don't! No one ever made you – '
"I must do this, Mokuba." Rebecca had never heard Noa speak so firmly. "It's not a choice. I died twice. That was a sign that I was meant to stay dead."
Rebecca blinked, before her world began to whirl and collapse in a heap of nothingness. "N-no!" she gasped, staggering backwards. "You can't…!"
Noa turned to her sadly. "I cannot live with these memories, Rebecca," he said softly. "My deaths have only confirmed that I am not meant to be here."
"N-no…!"
"Rebecca, listen to me." Noa tried to take her hands in his. She complied, raising them up, feeling an almost electrical tingle, where their hands "touched". "Rebecca, you and Mokuba have changed me. Mokuba taught my old self to be human. You have taught that to me. While I was still in possession of Mokuba's body, I made a copy of my mind, but before I started plotting. It was because if I ever was rebourn, I did not want to have the memories of what I have done. Now that I have regained them, I am convinced that I was to remain dead."
A few tears slipped past her cheek. "But Noa – "
"Rebecca, you have taught me to love. You have taught me to be a man, to be human. I may have turned back into the monster that I once was, had it not been for your kindness and love." Noa leaned forwards and sent electrical shocks throughout Rebecca's body as he brushed his lips to hers. "That's why I want you to push the button for me, Rebecca.""You want me to – "
"Please, Rebecca. I would not ask it of you if I didn't really care."
Rebecca watched as Noa's holographic body began to disintegrate. "But your body was nearly done…!" she said helplessly.
"Please, Rebecca. Please."
Rebecca turned to the computer screen, where Noa sat reflected back at her. She walked towards him, tears running freely down her face. "Noa, I – "
"Rebecca."
She choked. "Goodbye, Noa."
Her hand wavered over the 'delete' button…
There's something about white lilies I was always drawn to. When I was very young, I remember visiting my parents' grave with a bouquet of them.
Later, when I first met him, he told me that his favourite flower was a white lily. He told me that he thought, when he died, his grave should have been decorated with them. Whether or not it actually was, he did not know.
In the end, I made sure that wish came true. I went, and I decorated his grave with white lilies. I knew that it was part of what he truly wanted.
Perhaps it was wrong of me, to get so attached to quickly, and then to listen to him, when he asked. But there's one thing I do know:
White lilies always bloom again.
Me: WHAT THE HASFHSF IS YGO 5D'S?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (dies) They're ending GX at the end of March, only to start some show about a bunch of motorcycle-riding freaks! W. T. F.
By the way, the italics are all Noa, except the last one, which is Rebecca.
Well anywhoosle, wish me luck! No doubt next update/on my profile I'll update on the results! (Speaking of updates, chapter 8 of revised NPNA's up, since you're no alerted of replacements.)