Stepshipping (Noa x Mokuba)
It was a miracle. Seto insisted that it was only a miracle of scientific ingenuity, but Mokuba knew better.
This was magic. This was a real miracle.
The young boy peered into the room, barely peeking around the oaken door. It was large, for a guest room, and it had the biggest windows in the house. Since no one was quite sure which room had been Noa's originally, Mokuba had insisted that he go in the room with the biggest windows.
When he wakes up, he'll want lots of light, he had thought. He'll want to know that he's alive.
Noa's sleeping form was painted in soft, pastel colors by the rising sun. He looked very peaceful, his green hair falling gently over his closed eyes. Mokuba tip toed into the room, closing the door behind him. Seto didn't like it when Mokuba went to visit Noa. He thought it was a waste of time to be sitting at someone's bedside, waiting for them to wake up. He would wake up when he was ready, not when someone was staring at him. Besides, Seto still didn't really like Noa. He didn't say so, but Mokuba could tell.
But Mokuba knew that it was important to stay at someone's side, especially when they were sick. Seto never realized how many hours Mokuba had spent next to him while he had been nothing more than a vegetable in a wheelchair. He wouldn't understand what it felt like to be waiting for someone to wake up.
Mokuba slipped into the big chair next to the bed. They had found him in the graveyard, almost two weeks ago. Seto was convinced that he was the result of some form of cloning, and didn't believe that Noa would remember anything about the digital world. He would be someone entirely different when he woke up. Mokuba, of course, knew better. He just had to wait...a little longer...
He felt his eyelids drooping, and he rested his head on his hands. He had sneaked in here last night at midnight, telling the sleeping Noa stories about what had happened since the digital world. Mokuba really hoped that Noa could hear. Maybe he was having dreams about it...right now...
Mokuba was fast asleep when Noa awoke.
There was a dream trapped in his eyes, even when he had opened them, he was sure he was still inside of it. One moment, he had been running across the street. The next moment, he had been watching his father through a screen, and listening to the people around him glitch and repeat themselves.
And now...now where was he?
The bed was warm. That was no surprise. It always was. The sun was shining through the tall windows. Again, no surprise. His virtual world had been made perfectly.
But...hadn't it ended? Hadn't his entire world been destroyed?
"Father..." he whispered. "I remember...oh...why, father? Why...?"
Tears bubbled up and down his cheeks. He found that his throat was constricted, and there was a tightness in his chest that he did not remember. Slowly, he sat up, trying to bite back the sobs. But they wouldn't stop – why was he still alive? Was it even life, to be suspended in a virtual world alone, never to grow up, never to actually make contact with another real person? To live on knowing that his father had completely and totally abandoned him?
Or maybe...just maybe...everything had been a dream. Maybe the accident, the digital world, maybe it was all a dream! After all, having one's brain uploaded into a computer was certainly far-fetched. And then where had that card game come from? Certainly fantastical, it could have been a dream.
With hope fluttering in his chest, he started to struggle out of the covers.
And then he saw Mokuba.
The boy sat deep in the armchair, his head resting on his hands, fast asleep. Slow, regular breaths caused his chest to rise and fall.
Was he still dreaming? Was he still in the virtual world? Or was he dead? Was he in heaven, or in hell?
Carefully, so as not to wake Mokuba, he slid out of the bed. If this was real...if he was really alive...
There was one thing that had never been truly real about the digital world.
Noa padded, barefoot, over to the windows. A splinter of wood protruded from the sill, and he pried out the sharp wood. He raised the piece above his free hand, and, after a breath, plunged it down into the flesh of his hand.
A burst of pain and blood met his strike, and he gasped. He yanked the wood from his hand and a fresh burst of pain washed over him. He cradled his hand against his chest, and watched as a drop of blood slid down his hand and dripped three spots onto the white carpet.
"Noa?"
Noa started at the voice. Mokuba was awake, staring at him with wide eyes. After a beat, while they held each other's gazes, Mokuba flew out of his chair and ran to Noa.
"Noa! You're awake! Thank goodness! Wait – what...what did you do to your hand?"
Noa felt the beginnings of tears pricking at his eyes. He slowly, shakily raised his bloody hand.
"I...never bled...or felt pain...in the digital world," he said. "Mokuba...this is real, isn't it?"
And then he dropped to his knees and began to cry.
And for the first time in his life, he was not ashamed of his tears.
A/N: AAAAAA! I love Noa! 8D I generally hate filler of all kinds, but I love Noa so much because he's so cute and adorable and tragic and has so much room to grow and and and *deep breath* Okay, I'm okay now. Still, I really, really like the idea of a brotherly bond between Mokuba and Noa, rather than a romantic one. This story can really go either way; take it as you will. Next up is Steelshipping (Keith x Yami no Bakura). …I have a bad feeling about this…
