As soon as the bell rang Kaiba threw his stuff into his space pocket rather
than wasting time his briefcase, not really caring if anyone saw and
bolted.
"What's up with Kaiba?" Joey murmured to Yugi.
Kaiba got to Mokuba's school almost fifteen minutes early, which was good because it gave him some time to compose himself. It could have been worse, he reasoned I could, have found out after his ordeal, or when he was on his ordeal or when he told me for that matter. This way he'd get to talk to Mokuba and give him at least a few pointers before he went of doing who knew what. He unconsciously rubbed the jagged crescent-shaped scar on his left forearm, a memento from his own ordeal, three years ago, when he'd gotten a piece of flying metal embedded in his arm, through his coat, despite this obviously logical fact he kept thinking the same thing over and over, Mokuba – his little brother was a Wizard, a full two years early, the Powers only made people Wizards early when they had to do something really important that couldn't wait, if it was that important It would be interested in his brother for sure.
"Hello, Earth to Se-to," his brother said in a singsong voice, interrupting his unpleasant circle of thought.
"Huh, oh, hey Moki, how was your day?" Seto murmured "C'mon I need to talk to you about... something."
"Okay," Mokuba said, "This is Dairine, by the way, Dairine Callahan, she's new." He gestured to the redheaded girl standing next to him.
Dairine Callahan, Kaiba had heard that name before, he knew he had.
Kaiba spent the whole way home trying to figure out what he was going to say to Mokuba, he had never told his little brother that he was a Wizard, or even that Wizardry existed, it wasn't that he didn't trust the kid, exactly the opposite but that he didn't want his little brother to have to worry about it, he'd also never done anything, apart from his ordeal that would be dangerous enough to merit warning his brother just in case... Kaiba didn't finish that thought.
Kaiba's reverie was interrupted however, when he almost walked into his front gate.
"Um, Seto, are you okay, your acting kind of weird today."
"Yeah, fine, I was just ... thinking."
"About what?"
"Nothing, important."
Mokuba sighed "You are a really bad liar sometimes, you know that Seto?"
Kaiba still half stuck in his rather unpleasant train of thought replied by picking up his brother and giving him a hug. Mokuba returned the gesture, while trying to figure out what could possibly be the cause of this truly out of whack behaviour.
"Come on," Kaiba said suddenly, putting Mokuba down, "I need to talk to you about something and I don't feel like doing it standing outside the door. Then he walked inside, Mokuba running after him.
Despite his hurry to talk to Mokuba, once inside Kaiba found that he wanted to do anything but, simply because he didn't have the faintest clue what to say. In an attempt to solve this he went into the kitchen and bought himself some time by making Mokuba and himself hot chocolate.
Outside on the couch Mokuba was getting more frustrated by the second trying to figure out what was wrong with his brother, first he was practically panicking about 'needing to talk to Mokuba' which he never did, then he spaced out and nearly walked into a gate, another thing he never did, then he randomly hugged Mokuba, which he only ever did when something bad had just happened and now he was procrastinating, which he really never did. That made four out of character behaviours in just under half an hour, something really awful must of happened to him today. Just then Kaiba walked back in.
Kaiba, having finished his hot chocolate making and lacking any other reason to put off his discussion with his brother any longer walked back into the living room and handed Mokuba his before looking at him from several different angles, which differed by about a quarter of a degree in total and blurting out "You're a wizard." before collapsing onto the couch next to his brother.
"How, but, that, YOU'RE a wizard too!" Mokuba yelped getting the point.
"Uh; yeah." Kaiba mumbled back, somewhat guiltily.
"Why didn't you tell me!" Mokuba semi-exploded at him, making Kaiba feel enormously guilty,
"I, um, I didn't want you to worry about... me...and It... you know the ... you know... and... stuff." Kaiba finished lamely. "I'm sorry." The apology was met by an incredibly tight hug.
"Don't be sorry, I know you would have told me if you ever had to go do something really dangerous." Then Mokuba let go and grew serious again. "What about your Ordeal, when was that, what happened?"
"Oh, three years ago, I tried to go to Rirhath, and my coordinates were off," Kaiba sighed "and I ended up on Kalkatay, right before some loser decided to drop a bomb on their capital city, so of course I was obliged to stop it."
"That doesn't sound too bad." Mokuba interjected
"It wasn't," replied Seto, seeing that Mokuba hadn't figured out when this was in his version of three years ago. "That was fine but then I let my shield down and got hit by a bunch of the debris from the stuff that had already blown up. That was bad." He unconsciously rubbed the scar on his arm again.
Either the gesture or the rest of the description must have alerted Mokuba to when this was because he hugged his brother again, very tightly, as he remembered with unpleasant clarity the terrifying experience of coming back from reporting Seto's absence to the police with his adopted father to find his older brother kneeling in a heap on the doorstep, covered in blood. Kaiba, realising what his brother must be remembering hugged him tightly for a while before moving his little brother from his lap to the ground in front of him and getting up.
"Keep your eyes closed Moki, I want to show you something." He murmured softly getting the equipment he needed for the spell out of his space pocket.
"How're you gonna show me something if my eyes are closed?" Mokuba murmured back chuckling slightly
"You can open you're eyes once we're there, I just want it to be a surprise." Kaiba replied calmly, writing the long graceful series of syllables that was Mokuba's name in the speech into the spell, which he kept pre started in his space pocket and drawing the wizards knot.
There was the familiar sharp noise, somewhere in between a bang and a very loud pop, that was caused by the sudden implosion of air from the transport spell and Seto found himself gazing at the familiar lunar landscape and ultra-clear night sky of the moon.
"The ride is complete you may now open your eyes and walk around." Kaiba droned at his brother in a fake flight attendant voice.
Mokuba opened his eyes and looked around, trying to figure out where they were, "Oh, Seto" he gasped looking at the clear, clear sky and the bright stars. "Oh, Seto." Kaiba guessed he must have figured it out.
"You're looking at the wrong bit, Moki," Kaiba said, smiling slightly, a proper happy smile for once, as he rotated his brother around so he was looking directly at Earth. It was, Kaiba realized, the perfect time to have taken his brother to the moon, it was currently a new moon, which meant that the Earth was full, and at its most spectacular.
"Seto," Mokuba started and, completely lost for words, just stared at Earth for a few more seconds "Seto, Seto, its beautiful, its so big," He threw his arms around his brother, still staring avidly at the luminescent blue planet. "I wish we could show it to everyone." He said, sounding emotional, Kaiba could see the tears in his eyes, "I wish we could too Mokuba," Kaiba agreed sincerely, and he really meant it.
Kaiba bent over and picked up a small piece of moon rock that was laying near Mokuba's feet and pressed it into his brother's hand, "Here Moki, take this back with you," he shivered slightly in the increasing chill "We have to get back, the heat's running out."
"Thanks Seto." Mokuba whispered, clutching his moon rock tightly.
Kaiba took them home.
"What's up with Kaiba?" Joey murmured to Yugi.
Kaiba got to Mokuba's school almost fifteen minutes early, which was good because it gave him some time to compose himself. It could have been worse, he reasoned I could, have found out after his ordeal, or when he was on his ordeal or when he told me for that matter. This way he'd get to talk to Mokuba and give him at least a few pointers before he went of doing who knew what. He unconsciously rubbed the jagged crescent-shaped scar on his left forearm, a memento from his own ordeal, three years ago, when he'd gotten a piece of flying metal embedded in his arm, through his coat, despite this obviously logical fact he kept thinking the same thing over and over, Mokuba – his little brother was a Wizard, a full two years early, the Powers only made people Wizards early when they had to do something really important that couldn't wait, if it was that important It would be interested in his brother for sure.
"Hello, Earth to Se-to," his brother said in a singsong voice, interrupting his unpleasant circle of thought.
"Huh, oh, hey Moki, how was your day?" Seto murmured "C'mon I need to talk to you about... something."
"Okay," Mokuba said, "This is Dairine, by the way, Dairine Callahan, she's new." He gestured to the redheaded girl standing next to him.
Dairine Callahan, Kaiba had heard that name before, he knew he had.
Kaiba spent the whole way home trying to figure out what he was going to say to Mokuba, he had never told his little brother that he was a Wizard, or even that Wizardry existed, it wasn't that he didn't trust the kid, exactly the opposite but that he didn't want his little brother to have to worry about it, he'd also never done anything, apart from his ordeal that would be dangerous enough to merit warning his brother just in case... Kaiba didn't finish that thought.
Kaiba's reverie was interrupted however, when he almost walked into his front gate.
"Um, Seto, are you okay, your acting kind of weird today."
"Yeah, fine, I was just ... thinking."
"About what?"
"Nothing, important."
Mokuba sighed "You are a really bad liar sometimes, you know that Seto?"
Kaiba still half stuck in his rather unpleasant train of thought replied by picking up his brother and giving him a hug. Mokuba returned the gesture, while trying to figure out what could possibly be the cause of this truly out of whack behaviour.
"Come on," Kaiba said suddenly, putting Mokuba down, "I need to talk to you about something and I don't feel like doing it standing outside the door. Then he walked inside, Mokuba running after him.
Despite his hurry to talk to Mokuba, once inside Kaiba found that he wanted to do anything but, simply because he didn't have the faintest clue what to say. In an attempt to solve this he went into the kitchen and bought himself some time by making Mokuba and himself hot chocolate.
Outside on the couch Mokuba was getting more frustrated by the second trying to figure out what was wrong with his brother, first he was practically panicking about 'needing to talk to Mokuba' which he never did, then he spaced out and nearly walked into a gate, another thing he never did, then he randomly hugged Mokuba, which he only ever did when something bad had just happened and now he was procrastinating, which he really never did. That made four out of character behaviours in just under half an hour, something really awful must of happened to him today. Just then Kaiba walked back in.
Kaiba, having finished his hot chocolate making and lacking any other reason to put off his discussion with his brother any longer walked back into the living room and handed Mokuba his before looking at him from several different angles, which differed by about a quarter of a degree in total and blurting out "You're a wizard." before collapsing onto the couch next to his brother.
"How, but, that, YOU'RE a wizard too!" Mokuba yelped getting the point.
"Uh; yeah." Kaiba mumbled back, somewhat guiltily.
"Why didn't you tell me!" Mokuba semi-exploded at him, making Kaiba feel enormously guilty,
"I, um, I didn't want you to worry about... me...and It... you know the ... you know... and... stuff." Kaiba finished lamely. "I'm sorry." The apology was met by an incredibly tight hug.
"Don't be sorry, I know you would have told me if you ever had to go do something really dangerous." Then Mokuba let go and grew serious again. "What about your Ordeal, when was that, what happened?"
"Oh, three years ago, I tried to go to Rirhath, and my coordinates were off," Kaiba sighed "and I ended up on Kalkatay, right before some loser decided to drop a bomb on their capital city, so of course I was obliged to stop it."
"That doesn't sound too bad." Mokuba interjected
"It wasn't," replied Seto, seeing that Mokuba hadn't figured out when this was in his version of three years ago. "That was fine but then I let my shield down and got hit by a bunch of the debris from the stuff that had already blown up. That was bad." He unconsciously rubbed the scar on his arm again.
Either the gesture or the rest of the description must have alerted Mokuba to when this was because he hugged his brother again, very tightly, as he remembered with unpleasant clarity the terrifying experience of coming back from reporting Seto's absence to the police with his adopted father to find his older brother kneeling in a heap on the doorstep, covered in blood. Kaiba, realising what his brother must be remembering hugged him tightly for a while before moving his little brother from his lap to the ground in front of him and getting up.
"Keep your eyes closed Moki, I want to show you something." He murmured softly getting the equipment he needed for the spell out of his space pocket.
"How're you gonna show me something if my eyes are closed?" Mokuba murmured back chuckling slightly
"You can open you're eyes once we're there, I just want it to be a surprise." Kaiba replied calmly, writing the long graceful series of syllables that was Mokuba's name in the speech into the spell, which he kept pre started in his space pocket and drawing the wizards knot.
There was the familiar sharp noise, somewhere in between a bang and a very loud pop, that was caused by the sudden implosion of air from the transport spell and Seto found himself gazing at the familiar lunar landscape and ultra-clear night sky of the moon.
"The ride is complete you may now open your eyes and walk around." Kaiba droned at his brother in a fake flight attendant voice.
Mokuba opened his eyes and looked around, trying to figure out where they were, "Oh, Seto" he gasped looking at the clear, clear sky and the bright stars. "Oh, Seto." Kaiba guessed he must have figured it out.
"You're looking at the wrong bit, Moki," Kaiba said, smiling slightly, a proper happy smile for once, as he rotated his brother around so he was looking directly at Earth. It was, Kaiba realized, the perfect time to have taken his brother to the moon, it was currently a new moon, which meant that the Earth was full, and at its most spectacular.
"Seto," Mokuba started and, completely lost for words, just stared at Earth for a few more seconds "Seto, Seto, its beautiful, its so big," He threw his arms around his brother, still staring avidly at the luminescent blue planet. "I wish we could show it to everyone." He said, sounding emotional, Kaiba could see the tears in his eyes, "I wish we could too Mokuba," Kaiba agreed sincerely, and he really meant it.
Kaiba bent over and picked up a small piece of moon rock that was laying near Mokuba's feet and pressed it into his brother's hand, "Here Moki, take this back with you," he shivered slightly in the increasing chill "We have to get back, the heat's running out."
"Thanks Seto." Mokuba whispered, clutching his moon rock tightly.
Kaiba took them home.
