The lone, hunched figure paced back and forth beside the window. The moonlight which flowed through the window illuminated the side of his body facing the window, making him appear as though he was equally black and white. The only thing the two sides shared were the bright, bloodshot eyes that stared angrily into the darkness.
Another plan had failed. Not that it was any surprise. Every day, the two mice engaged in their nightly ritual in which they would attempt world domination. It always went as well as one would expect. The old mouse continued to pace, brooding over his latest defeat. He couldn't figure it out; why did it seem as though every plan of his was predestined to fail? No matter how hard he tried, the result was always the same; humiliation and defeat.
He continued to lie to himself. He wanted to believe that his short, powerless existence as a mouse would be justified by some grand destiny. He refused to believe that he would just fade away into history like the generations that had come before him. How many mice, how many living beings, had been swallowed up by time and forgotten?
He turned away from the window, the darkness enveloping his face. The bloodshot eyes narrowed and a slight growl escaped his lips.
How long would he be remembered for?
He was a laboratory mouse, an expendable specimen in the eyes of the world. The scientist's considered him easily replaceable. When one of the interns would ask if that day's experiment was safe enough to test on live animals, the scientists would always respond with a laugh and the conventional response.
"They're only lab mice. We can always get more."
To them, he was disposable and he hated that. If he were to be killed in an experiment or simply expire, he would be disposed of like a piece of trash. Having no true descendants, minus one clone, he would follow the many before him and be swallowed by the abyss. What was a mouse's life anyway? Four years was nothing compared to the life of the universe. It itself was still young while having an age in the billions. To the universe, the life of a mouse is insignificant. It is a simple existence that is snuffed out as quickly as it was brought into existence.
To give meaning to his life, he would have to surpass the existence of a mouse. He would become something greater. He would rule the world and seal his place in history by changing the flow of the universe. He could not extend his life, but he could make it worth something. He would not, he could not, let himself rot away like some product inside of this lab. He would not disappear. He would not fade away. He would not fail!
What if he did fail? What if he was forgotten? He body shivered at the thought of his mind, his beautiful mind, being wasted at the hands of humans. They would treat him in death, the same way they treated him in life; as a disposable object. He closed his eyes, forcing the thought of failure into the back of his mind. The thought, however, was persistent and reemerged seconds later. He turned around rapidly and slammed his large head into the frame of the window; tucking his head to avoid the moonlight. How could he look at it? The uncaring, expansive nature of the universe was the cause of his troubles, after all.
A small sound caused him to jump. Turning around, he saw a taller, leaner figure standing behind him.
"Pinky, I thought I told you to leave me alone. Go play with those blocks or something." He turned his back to the taller mouse, hoping his companion would adhere to his command. The latter did not leave. The taller mouse stood there, tilting his head slightly as if this action would allow him to read the mind of the other mouse.
"I was Brain but you were making so much noise. Have you come up with another plan?"
"A plan for what?" The elder answered bitterly.
Pinky, as usual, missed the bitter, sarcastic tone that flooded the voice of his companion. His bright blue eyes which resembled the sky, as Brain noted, widened as he strode toward his companion.
"Taking over the world! You know the same thing we do every night, Brain?"
"Tell me Pinky, what happens if I don't take over the world?"
The blue-eyed mouse seemed taken aback by this comment. He let out a suppressed Narf as he drew his ears back in surprise. It was clear to the Brain that this thought had never occurred to Pinky. The taller mouse had always been annoyingly optimistic. Heaven knows that Pinky never considered that there was a possibility that the tunnel had no light at the end of it. This was a direct contrast to himself. The Brain, although he tried to fight it, could never seem to see the lighter side of life. He always had his back to the moon while Pinky, that blessed mouse, always had his face towards it with his eyes wide open. The very vastness that terrified the Brain only seemed to increase Pink's desire to go out into it. He had no fear of being forgotten, he only wanted to be happy for the short time he had.
"Pinky, do you ever wonder what will happen to us when we die? Do you really think that, in only a few years, we will ever be able to rule the world? Do you really think this world and the universe will have something to remember us by?"
"I guess I've never really thought about that, Brain. Narf!"
"If I die tomorrow, I will be forgotten. I will be just another variable in an already overloaded equation. I can't stand the thought of what will happen if I don't accomplish something with my life! Don't you understand, Pinky? I will be forgotten, thrown to the wind!"
Pinky drew back as Brain turned on him.
"How does it feel," Brain hissed. "To know that could be forgotten tomorrow? How does it feel to know you could disappear?"
Pinky slumped down, his blue eyes wide in shock at Brain's outburst. Slowly his ears pressed up against his head and he shifted his weight towards the back of his feet until it appeared he would fall over with even the slightest breeze.
"You'd remember me, Brain. I don't think you'd let me get lost. I have before, poit, but you always found me."
Brain's eyes widened in surprise at this answer. He turned around to hide the expression on his face. He never encouraged public displays of emotion, and showing emotion in front of Pinky would be hypocritical.
"As usual you've missed the point, my friend. Perhaps, in a way, you somehow managed to answer m question. Pinky, if I were to get lost, as you put it, what would remember me as. Would you think that I wasted my life or that I somehow, in my short time here, managed to leave my footprint on this massive universe. Tell me, my friend, what would my legacy be?"
"Well, I'd have to know what legacy is, wouldn't I. Besides Brain, you don't have to worry about getting lost. You know your way around here better than any other mouse! Well, better than me at least. Troz! There are no other mice. But I guess if you got lost I would have to come find you, wouldn't I." Pinky sat back on his haunches as if imagining where the Brain could possibly get himself lost.
Brain observed quietly while Pinky listed possible locations in which the Brain could be lost. Brain could not help but chuckle slightly when he heard the North Pole and the Amazon Rainforest listed. It was doubtful that Pinky would ever truly understand what he was talking about. The other mouse was too fun loving and too innocent to contemplate the worthiness of his own existence. He had accepted everything for what it was and thrown out the illusion of control that consumed the Brain.
Pinky had left his footprint on this earth. More accurately, he had left it on Brain's heart. The shorter mouse's eyes widened in shock. He had left his own footprint on this world in the form of Pinky; the loyal mouse that clung to him every waking moment, the mouse that loved him despite all the blows to the head and demeaning comments, and the mouse that would find him when he was lost in the agony of his own mind.
He would continue to try for the world. But he would not have to worry about being forgotten. He was disposable to most of the world. Much of the population did not even know of his existence.
Only one other mouse did. But Brain was certain that that mouse would remember him and never leave his side. They were two small beings in a massive world. They would preserve each other in life and death, good and bad, past and future.
Slowly, Brain turned back around and allowed the moon to illuminate his face completely for the first time that night. Silently he stared at the moon and for the first time realized how beautiful it all was. The universe had a limited amount of energy. Everything that existed, had existed, or will exist had some effect on the universe. Brain tilted his head sideways to look at his friend. The other mouse was still listing off "hiding places" for Brain. The older mouse slowly made his way toward his blue-eyed companion.
"Come, my friend, we must prepare for tomorrow night."
Pinky immediately snapped out of his trance and leaped up. He bounced lightly over to Brain's side.
"Gee Brain, what are we going to do tomorrow night?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to take over the world!"
It may have been trick of the light or the fact he was tired from running continuously on the exercise wheel, but for a second Pinky could have sworn that for the first time the Brain was wearing a truly genuine smile.