A thick, heavy silence filled the car as the two brothers sat in the backseat. One sat calmly, glancing out the window periodically, to make sure they were going the right way.
The younger could not seem to hold still. He tugged at his jeans and picked dirt out from under his nails. He chewed on his cuticles as his eyes glanced moved from outside, to back into the car, to his brother, to his tennis shoes.
"Relax." The older barked, not taking his eyes off the passing buildings on the other side of the car's windows.
Mokuba jumped slightly, trying to keep his nervous quirks to a minimum with a soft, unnecessary apology. The two sat in silence until the car stopped in front of a building. Climbing out, the Kaiba brothers surveyed the location. A rather large building on the outskirts of Domino. Nothing rather extraordinary about the building would make it stand out. But the two were sure they had at least driven by it before. It certainly was not a new building, by any means. "I thought you destroyed or remodeled all of Gozaburo's offices and buildings." Mokuba stated as a question, looking up at his brother. "Guess not." Seto muttered, irritated that in his quest to destroy everything of Gozaburo's, he had somehow missed an entire building. "Who currently owns this building?" He asked seriously, turning towards his assistant. "We're not sure, sir." Roland admitted. "All we could find was that it's owned by an individual. Not a company." 'So he didn't use Kaiba Corp's money to pay for it… Which explains how I would have missed this one…' Seto thought, swearing to himself as he lead the way to the front doors. "Let's go." "Do you think they are really here?" Mokuba asked curiously, entering what looked more like a small clinic than an office building. The lights were all on, and it looked like the place had been well maintained. Everything seemed to be in working order, someone had been there recently. "They have to be." The older stated simply, wasting no time opening all of the doors down the closest hallway. "Someone's clearly been maintaining this place…" Roland uttered, taking note of the still immaculate and functional state of the rooms. "Probably were paid in advance." Seto answered, doing a quick scan of the room before moving on to the next. Mokuba opened another room, having not expecting to find something, he let out a surprised, "Seto!" When he did. His brother was quickly by his side, not needing to ask what was wrong when he looked inside. Their step-father laid peacefully in a hospital-style bed. Hooked up to what appeared to be some of the best life-support technology money could buy. Seto was the first to enter the rather large hospital room, checking the machines that were keeping him alive. 'So he did survive…' Seto thought to himself, growing angry as he watched the main motionless and laying before him.
The last time either of the brothers had seen Gozaburo in the real world was as he was throwing himself out a window of the recently "under new management" Kaiba Corp. The press had been quick to jump on the story, and the Kaiba Corp staff had been quicker to cover the tragedy up. Seto and Mokuba had naturally assumed that the man had died in the fall, as did most of the community.
It was not until The Battle City Finals that they had learned what had really happened to the old man. Upon the brothers' arrival back into town, the two had spent days trying to hunt down where Gozaburo and Noah's bodies had to be.
/"What makes you think their bodies are still out there, Seto?" Mokuba had asked, standing in the doorway of Seto's home office.
Seto did not bother looking up from his computer as he continued his search. "Mokuba, their bodies have to be somewhere." He dead-panned to his little brother.
"Well… But… They said that they didn't have bodies anymore. I mean… Wasn't that why…" He trailed off, not wanting to think of the painful memories that Noah and the Big 5 had caused him during his stay in the virtual world.
"The Big 5 certainly seemed to think that their bodies were left useless. Which, leaving them to rot somewhere would make it difficult for them to get out of the virtual world. But do you honestly think that Gozaburo wouldn't do something to at least keep his own body intact? He obviously survived his fall. And you know how much the old man loved appearances." Seto explained, briefly glancing up at his brother. "Something or someone had to be keeping them alive this whole time…"
"I guess so…" Mokuba mumbled, holding his breath as he tried to psyche himself up to ask his brother another question. "Hey… Seto…?"
The older Kaiba sighed; he stopped typing to really focus on his little brother. "What Mokuba?" Seto asked, giving his brother his full attention.
Which, probably made asking harder for Mokuba. "Well… I was just wondering… What are you going to do once you find them…?" /
"Hey! Who are you? You're not supposed to be here!" A stranger called out, shoving past Mokuba and Roland in the doorway to rush into the room.
Seto turned to the worker. "Who are you?" He asked back, bluntly, not phased by the newcomer.
"I–I work here." The doctor stated rather confused by the visitors. "You really shouldn't be here." He reiterated, shuffling past Kaiba to check his step-father's vitals.
Seto and Mokuba exchanged strange glances, wondering what to do about the doctor. "Excuse me." Seto started, getting the man's attention. "Who pays you to check on him?" He asked warily.
"Uhm… Mr. Kaiba's family I guess. We get paid in advance, I'm not sure where the checks come from, but it's really good money…" He answered, with confusion evident in his voice. "Why?" He asked warily.
Seto looked over his step-father, looking at the machines keeping him alive. He knew the man's mind was gone. He had watched as Noah destroyed their virtual world where his mind had been living. He knew his body was empty inside. He knew the man would never wake up. And if he did by some miracle, then what would happen? During his life all Gozaburo had done was make a living off of profiting from foreign wars and emotionally abusing orphans. And in his finest moments, the man had tried to off himself when bested by a teenager. 'What a life…' Seto thought to himself sarcastically. "Alright. Here's what I want you to do." Kaiba started, "I am, Gozaburo Kaiba's family. So I'm going to pay you, however much he was paying you, to turn off this machine right here. Go home. And never come back. Okay?" The entire room began to fill with protests from all other parties shortly after the order was given. The CEO rolled his eyes. "HUSH." He snapped, silencing everyone in the room. "There is nothing left for this man in this world anymore. So I am ordering you to let him leave it. And I want you to do the same thing with Noah Kaiba as well. Understand?" Seto repeated, not waiting for an answer as he slid past the doctor. "Come on, Mokuba." He ordered heading out of the room.
"Oh! Wait!" Mokuba called back, poking his head back into his step-father's room. "Can you tell us where Noah's room might be?"
The doctor blinked, still confused by the transaction that had just occurred between himself and the new Mr. Kaiba. "Uh… Right next door…"
Mokuba nodded, giving the man an apologetic smile as he began in the opposite direction of his brother. Upon realizing that Mokuba was no longer following him, Seto attempted to call him back to his side. "Mokuba, wait!"
"Hold on just a second!" The youngest argued his brother.
He was not sure why he was expecting Noah to be in better condition than Gozaburo. His heart sank as he found his newest brother in the same style of bed with the same machines on him as well.
Mokuba sat down at the un-used chair by Noah's bed, he wondered how long it had been since he had received any visitors in this facility. "Hey, Noah…" His small voice cracked out. "I don't know. I'm sure you can't hear me but… It's… It's Mokuba…" He swallowed. "Your brother."
He could not stop the memories from resurfacing as he remembered his time in the virtual world. Mokuba understood what it was like to be trapped there without a body to return to—it had been brief, but those memories and feelings were very real in the young executive's head. He found it difficult to be angry at Noah, after everything that they had been through. He wished that more could have been done in the end game. "I… I'm sorry. That… We couldn't save you…" He mumbled, glad that his brother was not there to see him as he began to tear up. "I… We tried… We really did…" He uttered, as though Noah was going to wake up and argue with him. He took a shaky breath. "I don't… I don't know… If you're mind was backed up somewhere. Or. Or if you survived. But… If you did, then… Then you should find a way to find me." He chuckled to himself, knowing how silly he must sound. "And… And I'll help you. I will. Because…" He ran his hand through this long hair. "Because you're my brother…" He swallowed back tears as he tried to continue. "And. It's not your fault what happened. And I'm sorry that it did. But… I think that you're going to be okay." He nodded, as though trying to convince himself as well. "You're going to be okay. And. And if you are still out there. You should… You should come find me and Seto… Because we're family now." He smiled to himself. "Just… In a less… creepy way next time." He chuckled at his own lame joke. Leaning forward to take Noah's hand in his own. He had never seen Noah's actual body before, only the virtual likeness that Noah and Gozaburo had created. He looked good. The body had aged, some. But the likeness was uncanny. Mokuba felt like he had really gotten to know his step-brother. He wished that it had been on better circumstances. He wished he would have had the opportunity to know him better. "Good luck, Noah." He gave the hand another squeeze. "You're gonna be okay." He nodded, pulling away from his step-brother to wipe his eyes.
Coming out of the room, he was surprised and relieved to see Seto waiting for him. "You okay?" Seto asked his little brother, softly.
Mokuba nodded, wiping his eyes once more before wrapping his arm around his brother's waist. "Y-Yeah. Do… Do you think that Noah will be?" He asked seriously, looking up at his brother with wide, wet eyes. Needing his older brother's wisdom in his vulnerable moment.
Seto let out a deep breath, giving Mokuba a squeeze. "We can't know what happened to their minds after the system crashed. We can't know if they were backed up somewhere or not. But either way, their bodies aren't doing anything for them. I don't want either of us to question this decision, okay? This is the best possible thing for them at this point."
Mokuba nodded, leaning back against his brother. "Do… Do you think… That… Noah is gonna go to a better place?" He asked seriously, not looking at his brother for this answer.
The older bit back the urge to laugh at the question, deciding now was not the best time to dump his cynicism onto his little brother. He paused, thinking what to say. He thought back to the little that he knew about Noah. He remembered their duel vividly. He remembered his King of a Higher Plane, and The Ark. Seto nodded. "I think that Noah believed in a better place after this one. And I think that that needs to be enough for those of us that are left behind."
Mokuba looked up at his brother, genuinely surprised at the thoughtfulness of his answer. He gave his brother a tight hug before finally releasing him. "Thanks, Seto." He smiled.