Well, I'm back earlier than I last was, at least. =P Rejoice! Anyhow,
there's something wrong with this chapter, but I can't quite put my finger
on it. *shrug* I don't have time to worry about it though, cause I'm
halfway into finals week and going INSANE..... But I figured I'd get this
up, so I'd be able to read comments and avoid studying! =D So review lots
so I can procrastinate! Oh yeah, and enjoy it if you can. Thanks for
reading guys, you all make my day. ^_^ *gives out caffeine and sugar*
~*~*~*~
The footsteps faded into nothing, as the door behind them closed quietly. Joey ignored the retreating nurse, and sat beside the bed. The blond boy had taken one of his father's cold hands, aghast at the tubes and needles in it, the machines he was hooked up to. There was no sour stench of alcohol hovering around the man; the noxious cloud was replaced by the sterile, clinical smell of disinfectant and medicine, an alien scent that stung his nose viciously. He never had liked hospitals much, and this was no exception. His free hand lifted the clipboard.
Diagnosis: Alcohol Poisoning
Status: Comatose
Treatment Administered: Intravenous Feeding (stimulants, antitoxins, nutrients, water), Artificial Filtration (kidneys, liver)
Notes: Extensive liver damage, possibly cirrhosis. Condition unstable. Uncertain if revival is possible....
There was more on the clipboard, much more, but Joey didn't want to see it. Hot tears stung at the corners of his eyes, and he held them in, swallowing back the pain. In its place, maybe what it had changed into, was rage. Fury blazed in his dark amber eyes, snapping and burning like firelight, and he threw the clipboard away from him, as hard as he could. There was a slight metallic clang as the clip hit the floor, and it bounced, skidding across the room to land under a bed in the far corner. The hand that had held it closed convulsively into a fist, and his face had undergone a frightening change, his features pulled into a savage snarl.
Why did it have to be this way? Why HIM?! For God's sake..... why did it have to be him.....
It wasn't his fault..... He didn't deserve this. Never had, and never would.
He'd been a business man, Joey could remember. A manager with a corner office, not very high on the corporate ladder, but somewhere comfortably in the middle. A social drinker, mostly during lunch appointments with clients. A hard-working man, a kind father, and a loving husband. The former, unfortunately, had been his undoing; he had worked TOO hard. The company had started to downsize people, due to some tough times, and his father had been having friction with some higher-ups. Not a good combination; the stress and uncertainty had daily taken its toll. He was seeing his family less and less, and eventually, started drinking.
He hadn't been a lazy drunk. Not the sort to tip over and fall asleep on the floor. Not a weepy one, either; he was a belligerent drunk, always spoiling for a fight and finding faults with others. He'd started to blame his family for his troubles, going so far as to even striking his wife and children. Not Serenity, though; Joey had always interposed himself between them. Always. He hadn't cared how much it hurt; in a way, he hardly felt it physically, so consumed with his inner turmoil of confusion and disbelief. He had known at the time that his father was a good man. He'd loved him. Didn't his father love them back? He hadn't conceived that it was even possible for his father to even THINK about doing stuff like this.
Joey had been 11 when his mother had started putting boxes into her car. He had helped her load them, though he hadn't known what they were, or where they were going, or what they were for. He had seen the papers she had put into the car, with a letterhead reading "Domino Women's Center". She had gotten Serenity into the car, and gotten in herself. He'd ran after them to get in too, hearing the distinctive click of car doors locking, devastated when they had started driving away without him. He didn't know what his mother had said, but he had heard perfectly well when his sister had pressed herself against the back window, eyes wide and teary as she called to him. He'd shouted back to her, tried to follow them. The departure had been given an unsettling feeling of permanence in his young mind, and he'd been frightened to death. After that, things had only gotten worse. The drinking hadn't been overly prevalent; just a bit each night, enough to get him intoxicated; after that, his father started drinking more often, and more of it. It escalated further when he finally was indeed fired from his job. The man was practically swimming in alcohol that night; Joey still had a scar from then, right behind his left ear, where he'd fallen and hit the back of his head on a corner of the coffee table trying to get away.
"You're going to get through this." Joey asserted, his voice quiet but strained, quavering as he tried to hold the emotion in. "You're going to wake up soon, and things'll be different. Like they were before. You were always strong. You told me that's what counted more than anything." Again, the rage, surging up and threatening to choke him, pushing up more tears that he refused to shed. "Dammit, you promised me that you'd always be there!" His voice had more conviction now, a vicious, spiteful hiss of wounded trust and misery. "Well where the HELL are you now?!"
He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to destroy something. He wanted to obliterate something, anything; annihilate it so utterly and completely that there wouldn't even be ashes left. He wanted to make this pain just go away, toss it into someone else's lap and let them deal with it. Somebody up there must've never liked him. This wasn't FAIR!
Joey jumped as he felt a hand come to rest on a shoulder, long, pale fingers curling to conform to the curve of his shoulder. "Wh-what?" He looked up into sharp, cold blue eyes, softer and warmer than he'd ever seen them before. He watched Seto hang the clipboard back at the foot of the bed- - he'd apparently gone to retrieve it, but Joey hadn't seen him do it. He hadn't been seeing much of anything, just lost in his own world.
"I think that we should be going now." Seto told him, and his tone brooked no argument. No, Joey hadn't had the privacy he'd needed; that was life. You always had something watch you, and you never did have what you needed; you just had to make do. While it was good to get it out and mourn a little, Seto knew it wasn't healthy to do it much, which was why he had interrupted while there was a lull. Thinking about things extensively like this made it worse; he knew all too well about that. He'd gone through the same thing, but for him, there hadn't been a second chance. There wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, promising that his father would "wake up someday". There had only been the cold, hard truth. And at times like this, you shouldn't dwell on a dead--or rather, half-dead--person, you should spend some time with a living person to get it all out of your system so it didn't overwhelm you. Still holding Joey's shoulder, Seto guided Joey out of the room, closing the door behind him, and the pair headed out to the limo.
Joey, numb for the most part, allowed himself to be led along like a good little puppy, and sat down in the car, conscious of Seto's arm draped over his shoulders. Nothing was said; he was just..... there...... a silent human contact, making himself known and understood through a simple touch. Sighing lightly, the Joey leaned into his companion's arm, forcing himself to think about nothing in particular. It'd all be okay... Dad would wake up soon....
~*~*~*~
Now that they were back home--had he just called the mansion HOME?! Strange thought. A little frightening, thinking of this huge, monstrous place as a home. But it felt like home, now. A second home, even better than the first one, because he had a family here. The house he lived in now--or, used to live in--had never felt like a home; it was a shabby little place they'd had to rent to, because his father had never found work after he'd been laid off, and they couldn't afford to keep paying for the one they'd had when the whole family was together.
But back to the subject, now that they were home, he had to brave fighting the terrible monster known as homework. Research, actually. A one page paper on the space race during the Cold War. Double spaced, no less. So it wasn't THAT bad. Joey dropped his history book on the desk, and flipped on Seto's computer, waiting for it to boot up. A log in screen popped up, requesting a user name and password. Joey winced, realizing he'd forgotten to ask Seto to tell him how to access the computer. He knew that there was probably sensitive stuff on here, but wasn't there a mode for Mokuba to play games or something that he could use? Shrugging to himself, Joey typed in "Guest" for the user name, and left the password blank. The computer flashed a window at him telling him it was an invalid user name/password combination. "Stupid computer....."
"Excuse me?" Came a response, straddling the line between amusement and indignance. It was a soft, feminine voice, melodic but assertive and business-like.
"Wha?" Joey sat up straight, looking around. Did the Kaibas have a live-in maid, or something? He'd seen neither hide nor hair of anything female in this place. "Who was that?"
There was a soft tinkle of laughter, with a slightly derisive edge to it. "Me."
"Who is 'me'?" Joey asked, eyes narrowed in annoyance as he spun in the swivel chair. "Why don't you come out where I can see you?"
"My name is Ai. And if you want to see me, turn around. There's a good boy!" The voice encouraged, as though coaxing a puppy to sit up for a treat.
Joey made a 180 turn, finding himself looking at the computer monitor again. "Oh, very funny. If you're hiding behind this, get your tail out here NOW. And I'm NOT a dog!" He issued a low growl with this statement.
"I'm sorry, Joseph." Ai sounded almost apologetic. "I thought you had ordinary vision faculties. You are looking at me, though; I cannot 'come out' when I lack something obscuring me from your line of sight."
"....So you're trying to tell me that this is you?" He tapped the corner of the monitor dubiously. "Don't be ridiculous, lady."
"You're very stubborn, Joseph." Ai observed with a long-suffering sigh. "What would be an acceptable way to prove to you my identity?"
"How about making this stupid thing log in, if you're a computer? Yeesh, I don't believe I'm arguing with a disembodied voice..." Joey complained. "And call me Joey." He added, as an afterthought.
"Very well, Joey." She acknowledged. The little light indicating that the monitor was on suddenly darkened, and the screen faded into black. A few moments later, the screen brightened again, to reveal a desktop.
"Woah, woah...." Joey leaned forward, staring at the multitude of icons. ".....Cool." So that was it; he was talking to a computer. That was pretty weird. "So how come you can talk and see me and everything?" The computers at school never did anything like THIS.... "Is this like a big eyeball or something?" He gestured toward the monitor.
"I monitor the security systems throughout the mansion and grounds." Ai informed him. "That enables me to see all that goes on in the premises. The speakers this computer is connected to allows me to speak."
"Yeah, but computers don't usually just.... up and decide to start a conversation, y'know?" Joey spun his hand in a circle, trying to emphasize his point. "You're not.... well.... dead, but you sure as hell ain't alive, either."
"Acknowledged." Ai agreed. "I am an Artificial Intelligence program, written by one Seto Kaiba. I am not a computer; I merely inhabit one."
It suddenly clicked together. Ai. Love. That made sense; One of Seto's main loves was obviously technology; he'd never known the brunet to be a punster, though. "....Oh. Um, that's.... cool. What do you look like? I mean, if you do look like anything....." What a weird question.
"One moment." Ai sounded almost as puzzled as he did, but the Start menu opened up, selecting a paint program, and Joey could only watch as the computer went to work by itself.In short order, the program had produced an image of a young woman with a modest figure, tall and slim. Her skin was a deathly pale white, her hair was a long, wavy blue-black, cascading down to mid-back, and she had fierce, penetrating blue eyes. Her clothes were rather formal: a navy blue trenchcoat trimmed with green, a green dress shirt of the same shade, and matching navy slacks and shoes. In short, Ai looked like a cross of Mokuba and Seto's genes, given female form. She also seemed to be smiling. The window minimized itself so that only the picture was visible, and anchored to the top-right corner of the screen. "Is that better?"
"Yeah." Joey agreed, with a small grin. "That's pretty cool. You're a good artist."
"Affirmative." Ai agreed simply. Computer programs had no need to be modest.
"So.... Why'd Seto make you, anyhow?" Joey leaned on an elbow against the desk, resting his chin on his hand. "Just someone to talk to while he worked?" Couldn't he have used Mokuba for that? Heaven knew the two were already so close they were practically Siamese twins.
"I was created to constantly and intelligently monitor all aspects of the Kaiba Mansion's security, and function as a safeguard against error and intrusion." She sounded like that response had been programmed in.
"C'mon. I mean really why. He might've told you to say that, but is that really what you think you were for?" Joey pressed. Ai had proven she could think, to some extent, and act on her own. He wanted to know if she had opinions, too. Besides that, it really seemed like Seto wouldn't have put so much effort into making her seem so.... human..... if she was just for security.
"Well...." Ai hesitated, as though trying to find the best way to put her thoughts into words. Strange to see a computer unsure of itself. "I believe he did create me for that, but that it was not the sole reason."
"Go on." Joey encouraged.
"I think...." Ai seemed reluctant to impart her electronic opinion. "I believe that I'm a caretaker. Not only making sure the mansion is safe and sound, but that he is, as well. He takes me into his confidence, to a degree that I've never seen him use otherwise, even with his younger brother."
"Only you..... you, a computer, over Mokuba? An electronic gizmo over the kid whose supported him for most of his life?" There was a bit of dismay in Joey's voice, and more than a little skepticism.
"Only me, over Mokuba." Ai confirmed, not venturing to add any more insight to their speculations.
"And he must've built you specifically for that reason, too." Joey hypothesized. "Just so he can talk to you. Tell you things that he doesn't tell anyone else....." His eyes lit up. "Because you wouldn't tell anybody, right? You're just a computer program. A bunch of lines of code. You'd keep it all to yourself, and you wouldn't hold it against him. How could a bunch of zeros and ones hold things against people?" He was warming up to the theory, now. "He probably never thought you would have a reason, if you could at all. He doesn't have to prove anything to you, or have an image to hold up. Machines don't care about that sort of thing. You.... you would be the only thing--person--he could really be himself around."
After all, why else would Seto not just talk to Mokuba about these things, when the kid obviously loved him no matter what? He had a reputation to maintain. He had to be a rolemodel. And most of all, he wouldn't want Mokuba to worry about him. And since computers weren't supposed to have feelings, or free will, or their own thoughts.... well, what--or who-- better to bare it all to?
"I resent that." Ai informed him flatly.
"Sorry, sorry...." He patted the monitor consolingly. "But what do you think? Am I right?"
"You're left." It sounded as though Ai was laughing. "Yes, you do have a point. What are you trying to get at?"
Joey scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Well, I was wondering, what sort of stuff does he tell you? He'd bite my head off if I said it to his face, but between you and me, I think he's driving himself nuts. And I think you agree with me, too; otherwise, you wouldn't have stayed on the topic for so long."
"I'm only a computer program." Ai reminded him.
"Yeah, and those follow orders by the people using em. So what if I command you to tell me?"
"I'd tell you to go waste your time on something more constructive; I don't do blind obedience."
"Geez, touchy...." Joey raised an eyebrow. "And how about if I just ask you? I'm guessing his continued sanity is in your best interest, right?"
"Whatever comes to his mind, I believe." Ai answered finally, after several minutes of silence. "That, and he keeps a journal."
"Ooh, gold." Joey smirked. "Now, we're onto something. Can I see it?"
"I don't know. Do you have fully functioning eyes?" Ai retorted.
"Yeah...."
"Then yes, you should be physically capable of seeing it."
Joey sweatdropped. "Stupid nitpicky computer grammar.... I mean, MAY I see it?" He rolled his eyes.
"You're asking me to breach the trust he placed in me." Ai reminded him seriously. "And he's the sort that doesn't trust easily."
"You're a computer program. He'd trust you anyway." Joey argued.
"This could be easily construed as a compromising of security, and I could sound the alarm." Ai warned, the menace in her voice unmistakable.
"What? Now THAT is pushing it....." Joey rolled his eyes. Honestly, how was this getting through security, if she agreed?
"I'm not going to let you hurt him." Ai stated. It was the sort of tone that left Joey feeling like she would have grabbed him by the throat, had she been able. "I don't care if he trusts you around the computer, or if he took you in out of the kindness of his heart. You. Are. NOT. Seeing. It." All the pleasantness was gone. It was eerie, the way she'd gone from sweet and accommodating, if a little sarcastic and overly literal, to cold and deadly.
The voice itself made him shrink back momentarily. After a moment, he regained his resolve. "Look, it's obvious you care about Seto, okay? I understand that. But what you need to understand, is that so do I! All I'm trying to do is help, and you're just shoving me away like scum. He needs somebody besides a computer program; nobody can live with a machine as their only friend. If you'd just LET me, I'd be that someone else." He narrowed his eyes at the monitor. "So I'll ask again, will you please show me the damned journal?"
There was a long stretch of silence, and finally, a program came up; a downloaded format from an online journal. "Thank you." Sighing exaggeratedly, Joey set about reading; his homework could wait.
~*~*~*~
Well, the reading was..... enlightening, to say the least. Seto could be surprisingly eloquent when he wanted to be. It was a revealing glimpse into the taller teen's life, and the view wasn't all moonlight and magnolias. The poor guy didn't even try to sound optimistic, even to himself. All the more reason for him to have somebody _human_ to vent to. Still, this wasn't the sort of thing he'd trust someone with straight away, either. Truth be told, he'd be really pissed off if anybody pried into it, like he was doing now....
A shadow fell over him. "And just WHAT do you think you're doing?" Seto demanded, peering over Joey's shoulder at the screen. There was a wooden spoon in his hand--he'd just finished getting dinner ready, and had gone to ferret out Joey and Mokuba--a dark blue, old stain-splattered apron tied onto him, and a dark, ominous scowl on his face. Long story short, Seto was NOT pleased.
There was a small click as the paint window with Ai's picture closed by itself. Joey cringed, looking very much like a puppy caught chewing its owner's brand-new leather shoes. Busted......
~*~*~*~
The footsteps faded into nothing, as the door behind them closed quietly. Joey ignored the retreating nurse, and sat beside the bed. The blond boy had taken one of his father's cold hands, aghast at the tubes and needles in it, the machines he was hooked up to. There was no sour stench of alcohol hovering around the man; the noxious cloud was replaced by the sterile, clinical smell of disinfectant and medicine, an alien scent that stung his nose viciously. He never had liked hospitals much, and this was no exception. His free hand lifted the clipboard.
Diagnosis: Alcohol Poisoning
Status: Comatose
Treatment Administered: Intravenous Feeding (stimulants, antitoxins, nutrients, water), Artificial Filtration (kidneys, liver)
Notes: Extensive liver damage, possibly cirrhosis. Condition unstable. Uncertain if revival is possible....
There was more on the clipboard, much more, but Joey didn't want to see it. Hot tears stung at the corners of his eyes, and he held them in, swallowing back the pain. In its place, maybe what it had changed into, was rage. Fury blazed in his dark amber eyes, snapping and burning like firelight, and he threw the clipboard away from him, as hard as he could. There was a slight metallic clang as the clip hit the floor, and it bounced, skidding across the room to land under a bed in the far corner. The hand that had held it closed convulsively into a fist, and his face had undergone a frightening change, his features pulled into a savage snarl.
Why did it have to be this way? Why HIM?! For God's sake..... why did it have to be him.....
It wasn't his fault..... He didn't deserve this. Never had, and never would.
He'd been a business man, Joey could remember. A manager with a corner office, not very high on the corporate ladder, but somewhere comfortably in the middle. A social drinker, mostly during lunch appointments with clients. A hard-working man, a kind father, and a loving husband. The former, unfortunately, had been his undoing; he had worked TOO hard. The company had started to downsize people, due to some tough times, and his father had been having friction with some higher-ups. Not a good combination; the stress and uncertainty had daily taken its toll. He was seeing his family less and less, and eventually, started drinking.
He hadn't been a lazy drunk. Not the sort to tip over and fall asleep on the floor. Not a weepy one, either; he was a belligerent drunk, always spoiling for a fight and finding faults with others. He'd started to blame his family for his troubles, going so far as to even striking his wife and children. Not Serenity, though; Joey had always interposed himself between them. Always. He hadn't cared how much it hurt; in a way, he hardly felt it physically, so consumed with his inner turmoil of confusion and disbelief. He had known at the time that his father was a good man. He'd loved him. Didn't his father love them back? He hadn't conceived that it was even possible for his father to even THINK about doing stuff like this.
Joey had been 11 when his mother had started putting boxes into her car. He had helped her load them, though he hadn't known what they were, or where they were going, or what they were for. He had seen the papers she had put into the car, with a letterhead reading "Domino Women's Center". She had gotten Serenity into the car, and gotten in herself. He'd ran after them to get in too, hearing the distinctive click of car doors locking, devastated when they had started driving away without him. He didn't know what his mother had said, but he had heard perfectly well when his sister had pressed herself against the back window, eyes wide and teary as she called to him. He'd shouted back to her, tried to follow them. The departure had been given an unsettling feeling of permanence in his young mind, and he'd been frightened to death. After that, things had only gotten worse. The drinking hadn't been overly prevalent; just a bit each night, enough to get him intoxicated; after that, his father started drinking more often, and more of it. It escalated further when he finally was indeed fired from his job. The man was practically swimming in alcohol that night; Joey still had a scar from then, right behind his left ear, where he'd fallen and hit the back of his head on a corner of the coffee table trying to get away.
"You're going to get through this." Joey asserted, his voice quiet but strained, quavering as he tried to hold the emotion in. "You're going to wake up soon, and things'll be different. Like they were before. You were always strong. You told me that's what counted more than anything." Again, the rage, surging up and threatening to choke him, pushing up more tears that he refused to shed. "Dammit, you promised me that you'd always be there!" His voice had more conviction now, a vicious, spiteful hiss of wounded trust and misery. "Well where the HELL are you now?!"
He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to destroy something. He wanted to obliterate something, anything; annihilate it so utterly and completely that there wouldn't even be ashes left. He wanted to make this pain just go away, toss it into someone else's lap and let them deal with it. Somebody up there must've never liked him. This wasn't FAIR!
Joey jumped as he felt a hand come to rest on a shoulder, long, pale fingers curling to conform to the curve of his shoulder. "Wh-what?" He looked up into sharp, cold blue eyes, softer and warmer than he'd ever seen them before. He watched Seto hang the clipboard back at the foot of the bed- - he'd apparently gone to retrieve it, but Joey hadn't seen him do it. He hadn't been seeing much of anything, just lost in his own world.
"I think that we should be going now." Seto told him, and his tone brooked no argument. No, Joey hadn't had the privacy he'd needed; that was life. You always had something watch you, and you never did have what you needed; you just had to make do. While it was good to get it out and mourn a little, Seto knew it wasn't healthy to do it much, which was why he had interrupted while there was a lull. Thinking about things extensively like this made it worse; he knew all too well about that. He'd gone through the same thing, but for him, there hadn't been a second chance. There wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, promising that his father would "wake up someday". There had only been the cold, hard truth. And at times like this, you shouldn't dwell on a dead--or rather, half-dead--person, you should spend some time with a living person to get it all out of your system so it didn't overwhelm you. Still holding Joey's shoulder, Seto guided Joey out of the room, closing the door behind him, and the pair headed out to the limo.
Joey, numb for the most part, allowed himself to be led along like a good little puppy, and sat down in the car, conscious of Seto's arm draped over his shoulders. Nothing was said; he was just..... there...... a silent human contact, making himself known and understood through a simple touch. Sighing lightly, the Joey leaned into his companion's arm, forcing himself to think about nothing in particular. It'd all be okay... Dad would wake up soon....
~*~*~*~
Now that they were back home--had he just called the mansion HOME?! Strange thought. A little frightening, thinking of this huge, monstrous place as a home. But it felt like home, now. A second home, even better than the first one, because he had a family here. The house he lived in now--or, used to live in--had never felt like a home; it was a shabby little place they'd had to rent to, because his father had never found work after he'd been laid off, and they couldn't afford to keep paying for the one they'd had when the whole family was together.
But back to the subject, now that they were home, he had to brave fighting the terrible monster known as homework. Research, actually. A one page paper on the space race during the Cold War. Double spaced, no less. So it wasn't THAT bad. Joey dropped his history book on the desk, and flipped on Seto's computer, waiting for it to boot up. A log in screen popped up, requesting a user name and password. Joey winced, realizing he'd forgotten to ask Seto to tell him how to access the computer. He knew that there was probably sensitive stuff on here, but wasn't there a mode for Mokuba to play games or something that he could use? Shrugging to himself, Joey typed in "Guest" for the user name, and left the password blank. The computer flashed a window at him telling him it was an invalid user name/password combination. "Stupid computer....."
"Excuse me?" Came a response, straddling the line between amusement and indignance. It was a soft, feminine voice, melodic but assertive and business-like.
"Wha?" Joey sat up straight, looking around. Did the Kaibas have a live-in maid, or something? He'd seen neither hide nor hair of anything female in this place. "Who was that?"
There was a soft tinkle of laughter, with a slightly derisive edge to it. "Me."
"Who is 'me'?" Joey asked, eyes narrowed in annoyance as he spun in the swivel chair. "Why don't you come out where I can see you?"
"My name is Ai. And if you want to see me, turn around. There's a good boy!" The voice encouraged, as though coaxing a puppy to sit up for a treat.
Joey made a 180 turn, finding himself looking at the computer monitor again. "Oh, very funny. If you're hiding behind this, get your tail out here NOW. And I'm NOT a dog!" He issued a low growl with this statement.
"I'm sorry, Joseph." Ai sounded almost apologetic. "I thought you had ordinary vision faculties. You are looking at me, though; I cannot 'come out' when I lack something obscuring me from your line of sight."
"....So you're trying to tell me that this is you?" He tapped the corner of the monitor dubiously. "Don't be ridiculous, lady."
"You're very stubborn, Joseph." Ai observed with a long-suffering sigh. "What would be an acceptable way to prove to you my identity?"
"How about making this stupid thing log in, if you're a computer? Yeesh, I don't believe I'm arguing with a disembodied voice..." Joey complained. "And call me Joey." He added, as an afterthought.
"Very well, Joey." She acknowledged. The little light indicating that the monitor was on suddenly darkened, and the screen faded into black. A few moments later, the screen brightened again, to reveal a desktop.
"Woah, woah...." Joey leaned forward, staring at the multitude of icons. ".....Cool." So that was it; he was talking to a computer. That was pretty weird. "So how come you can talk and see me and everything?" The computers at school never did anything like THIS.... "Is this like a big eyeball or something?" He gestured toward the monitor.
"I monitor the security systems throughout the mansion and grounds." Ai informed him. "That enables me to see all that goes on in the premises. The speakers this computer is connected to allows me to speak."
"Yeah, but computers don't usually just.... up and decide to start a conversation, y'know?" Joey spun his hand in a circle, trying to emphasize his point. "You're not.... well.... dead, but you sure as hell ain't alive, either."
"Acknowledged." Ai agreed. "I am an Artificial Intelligence program, written by one Seto Kaiba. I am not a computer; I merely inhabit one."
It suddenly clicked together. Ai. Love. That made sense; One of Seto's main loves was obviously technology; he'd never known the brunet to be a punster, though. "....Oh. Um, that's.... cool. What do you look like? I mean, if you do look like anything....." What a weird question.
"One moment." Ai sounded almost as puzzled as he did, but the Start menu opened up, selecting a paint program, and Joey could only watch as the computer went to work by itself.In short order, the program had produced an image of a young woman with a modest figure, tall and slim. Her skin was a deathly pale white, her hair was a long, wavy blue-black, cascading down to mid-back, and she had fierce, penetrating blue eyes. Her clothes were rather formal: a navy blue trenchcoat trimmed with green, a green dress shirt of the same shade, and matching navy slacks and shoes. In short, Ai looked like a cross of Mokuba and Seto's genes, given female form. She also seemed to be smiling. The window minimized itself so that only the picture was visible, and anchored to the top-right corner of the screen. "Is that better?"
"Yeah." Joey agreed, with a small grin. "That's pretty cool. You're a good artist."
"Affirmative." Ai agreed simply. Computer programs had no need to be modest.
"So.... Why'd Seto make you, anyhow?" Joey leaned on an elbow against the desk, resting his chin on his hand. "Just someone to talk to while he worked?" Couldn't he have used Mokuba for that? Heaven knew the two were already so close they were practically Siamese twins.
"I was created to constantly and intelligently monitor all aspects of the Kaiba Mansion's security, and function as a safeguard against error and intrusion." She sounded like that response had been programmed in.
"C'mon. I mean really why. He might've told you to say that, but is that really what you think you were for?" Joey pressed. Ai had proven she could think, to some extent, and act on her own. He wanted to know if she had opinions, too. Besides that, it really seemed like Seto wouldn't have put so much effort into making her seem so.... human..... if she was just for security.
"Well...." Ai hesitated, as though trying to find the best way to put her thoughts into words. Strange to see a computer unsure of itself. "I believe he did create me for that, but that it was not the sole reason."
"Go on." Joey encouraged.
"I think...." Ai seemed reluctant to impart her electronic opinion. "I believe that I'm a caretaker. Not only making sure the mansion is safe and sound, but that he is, as well. He takes me into his confidence, to a degree that I've never seen him use otherwise, even with his younger brother."
"Only you..... you, a computer, over Mokuba? An electronic gizmo over the kid whose supported him for most of his life?" There was a bit of dismay in Joey's voice, and more than a little skepticism.
"Only me, over Mokuba." Ai confirmed, not venturing to add any more insight to their speculations.
"And he must've built you specifically for that reason, too." Joey hypothesized. "Just so he can talk to you. Tell you things that he doesn't tell anyone else....." His eyes lit up. "Because you wouldn't tell anybody, right? You're just a computer program. A bunch of lines of code. You'd keep it all to yourself, and you wouldn't hold it against him. How could a bunch of zeros and ones hold things against people?" He was warming up to the theory, now. "He probably never thought you would have a reason, if you could at all. He doesn't have to prove anything to you, or have an image to hold up. Machines don't care about that sort of thing. You.... you would be the only thing--person--he could really be himself around."
After all, why else would Seto not just talk to Mokuba about these things, when the kid obviously loved him no matter what? He had a reputation to maintain. He had to be a rolemodel. And most of all, he wouldn't want Mokuba to worry about him. And since computers weren't supposed to have feelings, or free will, or their own thoughts.... well, what--or who-- better to bare it all to?
"I resent that." Ai informed him flatly.
"Sorry, sorry...." He patted the monitor consolingly. "But what do you think? Am I right?"
"You're left." It sounded as though Ai was laughing. "Yes, you do have a point. What are you trying to get at?"
Joey scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Well, I was wondering, what sort of stuff does he tell you? He'd bite my head off if I said it to his face, but between you and me, I think he's driving himself nuts. And I think you agree with me, too; otherwise, you wouldn't have stayed on the topic for so long."
"I'm only a computer program." Ai reminded him.
"Yeah, and those follow orders by the people using em. So what if I command you to tell me?"
"I'd tell you to go waste your time on something more constructive; I don't do blind obedience."
"Geez, touchy...." Joey raised an eyebrow. "And how about if I just ask you? I'm guessing his continued sanity is in your best interest, right?"
"Whatever comes to his mind, I believe." Ai answered finally, after several minutes of silence. "That, and he keeps a journal."
"Ooh, gold." Joey smirked. "Now, we're onto something. Can I see it?"
"I don't know. Do you have fully functioning eyes?" Ai retorted.
"Yeah...."
"Then yes, you should be physically capable of seeing it."
Joey sweatdropped. "Stupid nitpicky computer grammar.... I mean, MAY I see it?" He rolled his eyes.
"You're asking me to breach the trust he placed in me." Ai reminded him seriously. "And he's the sort that doesn't trust easily."
"You're a computer program. He'd trust you anyway." Joey argued.
"This could be easily construed as a compromising of security, and I could sound the alarm." Ai warned, the menace in her voice unmistakable.
"What? Now THAT is pushing it....." Joey rolled his eyes. Honestly, how was this getting through security, if she agreed?
"I'm not going to let you hurt him." Ai stated. It was the sort of tone that left Joey feeling like she would have grabbed him by the throat, had she been able. "I don't care if he trusts you around the computer, or if he took you in out of the kindness of his heart. You. Are. NOT. Seeing. It." All the pleasantness was gone. It was eerie, the way she'd gone from sweet and accommodating, if a little sarcastic and overly literal, to cold and deadly.
The voice itself made him shrink back momentarily. After a moment, he regained his resolve. "Look, it's obvious you care about Seto, okay? I understand that. But what you need to understand, is that so do I! All I'm trying to do is help, and you're just shoving me away like scum. He needs somebody besides a computer program; nobody can live with a machine as their only friend. If you'd just LET me, I'd be that someone else." He narrowed his eyes at the monitor. "So I'll ask again, will you please show me the damned journal?"
There was a long stretch of silence, and finally, a program came up; a downloaded format from an online journal. "Thank you." Sighing exaggeratedly, Joey set about reading; his homework could wait.
~*~*~*~
Well, the reading was..... enlightening, to say the least. Seto could be surprisingly eloquent when he wanted to be. It was a revealing glimpse into the taller teen's life, and the view wasn't all moonlight and magnolias. The poor guy didn't even try to sound optimistic, even to himself. All the more reason for him to have somebody _human_ to vent to. Still, this wasn't the sort of thing he'd trust someone with straight away, either. Truth be told, he'd be really pissed off if anybody pried into it, like he was doing now....
A shadow fell over him. "And just WHAT do you think you're doing?" Seto demanded, peering over Joey's shoulder at the screen. There was a wooden spoon in his hand--he'd just finished getting dinner ready, and had gone to ferret out Joey and Mokuba--a dark blue, old stain-splattered apron tied onto him, and a dark, ominous scowl on his face. Long story short, Seto was NOT pleased.
There was a small click as the paint window with Ai's picture closed by itself. Joey cringed, looking very much like a puppy caught chewing its owner's brand-new leather shoes. Busted......