A/N: if anyone's interested this is also posted on AO3 under the same title. its a little further along there.

We Thank Whatever Gods May Be

Kaiba was out of the room long before the nurse needed to tell him anything. He whipped by her, and Kawai-san, catching the mother's critical eye, and her sudden rise from the chair, as he took long strides down the hall. If she was following him, he heard nothing but the sound of his own shoes clacking against the tile.

Turning the corner to the elevator, Kaiba found his legs numb, stalled in place, as he leaned his shoulder against the wall to keep upright. He couldn't precisely say what it was that he was feeling at that moment. Everything was very out of body, his mind wasn't in the hallway, yet still his body propelled forward. He pushed off the wall and steered towards the elevator, jamming the call button.

Kaiba knew that his legs had outran his mind, leaving part of him still sitting in that dim hospital room. As he stepped onto the elevator, he could still hear the gentle whooshing of air, the metronome bleating of a heart that was still going. Was that supposed to make him hopeful? A body was lifeless, useless, without its mind to wake it, control it, and make its decisions. Jounouchi was just a...a pile of bones and muscle and skin! He may as well have been held together with paper clips and twine, for all the technology was worth.

The doors closed, and Kaiba situated himself to face where they would open again, his lips parting at the distorted reflection of himself in the shined silver doors, smeared with fresh handprints. His own, perhaps, as he forced himself inside.

This, too, was just a pale, disheveled, lifeless body that stood before him, Kaiba thought. There was no mind in it—that was back in the room with Jounouchi, appraising every last gash, every last bruise.

"I need you,..."

"No," Kaiba said aloud. His hand slipped into pocket, producing his phone. Mokuba had said to call him if he was upset. "No, m-mutt, you don't need me..." Mokuba's contact was pulled up, and his finger scrolled along the picture, following the arm to the body that he knew Mokuba had cropped out. His thumb kept slipping against the glass to see to the rest of picture. It bobbed against a blackened edge, popping back into place.

Looking up, back to his pallor and questioning eyes, Kaiba shook his head. He was better than this. Jounouchi was nothing but a stain in the past, and that was all there was to it. These events were tragic, but ultimately, nothing changed.

His mind finally caught up with him, bleeding him into the present moment. The doors opened up in front of him. His mind had a tendency to wander to far-fetched, grandiose ideas, but it always had to return back to the present, to his focused blankness. An anchor to reel in the fanciful and far-fetched.

Kaiba's eyes widened.

That was it!

Kaiba found his mind suddenly flooded with a plethora of questions, theories, and hypotheses, all that regarded Invictus. How he could make the mind into controller, and from there, where the player could decide where it was going and the program remain stable in the process. All of which was going to need to be reprogramming, and it couldn't wait.

Kaiba couldn't look back; he couldn't let his mind wander. There was plenty of work to do, and none of it involved thinking about Jounouchi.

Clicking the phone screen to black, squaring his shoulders and straightening his back, Kaiba stepped out of the elevator and headed for the exit. One foot in front of the other. Again and again. Heel to toe.

"Good morning, Ebi-chan!" Mokuba said, smile plastered on his face. He was almost bursting off of the elevator onto the floor of the executive suites.

"Good morning, Mokuba-kun. Welcome back," the secretary greeted. A cardboard coffee carrier was placed on her desk, and one of the three cups slid to her. "Oh, thank you! Aren't you a darling?" Though as she looked down at the cup, her fingers turning it slow, she asked: "What do you want...?"

"Nothing, nothing," Mokuba laughed and shrugged. "Seto in the middle of anything?"

Ebi-san opened up the lid off the coffee cup, blowing on it. She eyed Mokuba, suspicious of his noncommittal laughter. "He's not been in yet."

Shouldering the office door, Mokuba arched a brow. "It's like... nine. You sure? Has he called in?"

Ebi-san shook her head. "He sent me a late message saying that you would be in and that's the last I've heard from him. He has a meeting in thirty minutes, and I can't seem to get ahold of him."

"Of course not," Mokuba sighed. As if anyone had in the last few days. "I can give it a shot. As long as you don't tell him that I came in kinda late..."

Ebi-san clicked her tongue, the coffee cup raised as if in agreement.

Entering into Seto's office, kicking the door closed behind him, Mokuba peered around for signs of life, but the chair was pushed up the the edge of the desk. Not that it mattered much. The office was always a sterile, ordered place. Seto's methodical nature made it seem as if there was never meant to be a person there in the first place. Every piece had a place, as it ready for a photo op, even if there was never a camera that had been allowed in the CEO's private space.

The drink carrier was sat on the desk, one of the cups placed by the monitor. Stepping around, Mokuba peered down and found his brother's briefcase tucked underneath. A quiet huff; Mokuba pulled out his phone.

〜(^∇^~)Mokuba

I went for coffee! : D where r u?

There were only so many places he imagined where Seto would have run off to, despite how large the tower was. If he had to guess, he would have found Seto down in the R and D labs, leaning over the necks of the engineers, or possibly making rounds into marketing to take a look at their proposals for the upcoming product releases. If he had any recollection of their hectic schedule over the last few days, too, Seto was also nearing the end of completion of the Duel Academy, and the meeting he was about to miss had something to do with that—Mokuba could fill in for him on that one, if it was necessary.

Glancing down to his phone, seeing no response, Mokuba slid his phone into pocket and left the office. "He's here somewhere; his briefcase is hiding under the desk."

"Odd," Ebi-san said.

Crossing the floor to an opposite door, one with his own nameplate slid into the side with the title 'Vice President' etched underneath, Mokuba entered his own space, kicking down the door stopper. Ebi-san's phone rang, and she answered, hushed, while clacking away at the keyboard. Back to the normal—the daily grind. His own phone would be ringing any minute, disturbing the quiet. Which was fine for him. The quiet of the offices felt too normal for everything that had been transpiring the last few days.

Setting down his own coffee, he scooped up the files that had been left for him, Seto's neat, tiny scrawl on several sticky notes left over top of them.

'Regarding the Academy meeting.' Yep. He was going on his brother's stead.

'Regarding marketing's holiday plans. Talk to Ishiguro, he listens to you.' Of course he does, Mokuba thought, but then again, marketing and PR were his strengths.

'Regarding...'

'Regarding...'

'Regarding...'

Ten different files in total, full packets of information for the rest of the week, it almost seemed like, though he couldn't tell. Leafing through all of them, noting that Seto had gave him instructions for each, Mokuba only grew more curious. The only time these sorts of things were left to him was when Seto was on an extended trip and needed Mokuba to keep their main headquarters running smoothly.

〜(^∇^~)Mokuba

Seto.

Where r u?

What's going on?

I'm worried about you!

You didn't take off or something did you! Please come get the coffee!

Phone set aside, Mokuba went around to his computer, and found his corporate tablet leaned up against the monitor, a semi-circular headset hanging off the front of it. It reminded him of the prototype headset that Seto had originally designed for Invictus, though this seemed much more refined than before and, judging by the lack of flare and bubbled seams, hastily put together.

Facial recognition opened his tablet, and he laid it flat, staring at the document opened up on it. A blueprint, with scribbled sketches along it, showing the differences between the old headset and the new one. Seto's writing was unmistakable.

'Put it on and calibrate it.'

Consulting the blueprint on how to do so, turning the headset over and right ways, Mokuba slid it beneath his ear, feeling a prong poke into his temple, while a small arm hugged along the back of his head. His finger pressed into a small button on the underside of the earpiece, another pressing the home button on his tablet. The headset began blinking violet in his peripheral.

Lowering into the chair, pulling his keyboard out from the drawer slid, Mokuba's eyes kept sliding between everything before him. The tablet, showing where the headset was in the middle of syncing, the files, strewn over his desk with varying degrees of importance, and the long list of emails now appearing in his inbox, all work related.

All of this as if nothing had happened; as if he hadn't been away for two workdays for the hell of it. Not even Ebi-san had said anything. He wondered if Seto had said anything. No, of course he hadn't. Why would he let anyone know about personal turmoil for either of them?

The headset was thrown off before fully calibrating. He didn't want to work on this stupid project because his brother wanted a distraction. His tablet flashed a loud, red 'X' and prompted him to reconnect.

Maybe he wasn't as ready to come back as he thought he was.

"Good morning, Kaiba-san," Ebi-san chirped, and Mokuba stood up from his desk, popping out to see his brother striding in, Isono in two shortly behind, keeping up with his employer's slow but steady pace.

Seto's feet dragged. His eyelids drooped. No wonder the work seemed so hasty, Mokuba thought. He hadn't been joking that he wouldn't sleep. He didn't appear to have even changed clothes, only removed his suit jacket.

Mokuba's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he saw Seto flash his screen where he had just replied, a crooked smile on his face. Well, better late than never.

"Good morning, Mokuba," Isono greeted. "Is everything going alright?"

Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, everything's alright for now, thanks," he said, his heart softening. Maybe Seto had said something to Isono. That would make a little more sense. "Are...you just getting here?"

Isono shook his head. "I've been with Seto-sama since around five this morning," he stated. "I'm here to escort you to the meeting."

Mokuba looked up, and saw where Seto had crept into his office and took up the coffee cup that had been laid on his desk, coveting it. Yep. Tired. Up all night, if Mokuba had to guess right, chasing after some kind of inspiration.

"Escort me?" He laughed. "I think I can find the conference room, thanks."

Going back into his office, Mokuba grabbed the files that Seto had left him, as well as his tablet, still flashing the red 'X'. He frowned, picking up the headset and slipping it back on, restarting the calibration. Mokuba exited office, locking the door. Seto had emerging from his with his briefcase in hand. The coffee was nowhere in sight, already demolished.

"We received a call this morning from the police commissioner," said Isono. "They are concerned that you may still be a target amidst the investigation; your brother is equally worried."

"Oh."

"It's just a precaution," Isono said. "I wouldn't worry."

Seto approached him, leaning over to see where the piece was around Mokuba's ear. It became a solid violet line in the younger brother's peripheral. "Is this thing what you've been working on all night, nii-sama?"

"Mm."

"...why?"

"I realised what was wrong with it," Seto replied. "It needed a hub world."

Mokuba blinked. "That...seems like to easy of a fix. Does it work?"

"I don't know," Seto replied. The three of them headed into the elevator. Isono pressed for the fifteenth floor, while Seto pressed for basement two. "Haven't had the opportunity to test it yet."

"Are you going back down now?"

"I am."

"Since you're up here, why not come to the meeting with me?" Mokuba asked. Seto's head lulled over, and the tiredness in his face leaked through, heavy. "Yeah...okay, gotcha. Never mind."

"After you're finished with the Academy meeting and Ishiguro, I need you to meet me downstairs," Seto said.

"For what?"

"Testing."

And then, for the second time, Mokuba removed the headset. "No."

"No?" The headset was pressed into Seto's hand. "Why not?"

"Nii-sama, I...look, I like this idea. I really do, I think it's gonna be awesome. But it's...it's about dreams, okay. Right?" Seto nodded. "You've told me what sort of dreams this thing is conjuring for you right now. I don't want to be a part of that."

"Mokuba, that was once."

"How about this?" Mokuba asked. The elevator doors slid open. "You go see Jou, and then I'll help you test. Maybe it'll make you a little less..." his hand went up and down Seto's figure as he stepped out.

"Mokuba..."

"I'm just worried about you, nii-sama. I think it may be more healthy this way." A short pause from Seto, his eyes wandering over Mokuba's face, blank and lost. The doors began to close. "Is that fair?"

"Fine." Seto said.

Mokuba could see the way that he was clenching the headset, and could hear the weight to Seto's one word reply. There was something he was missing still, but it would have to wait for later. Right now, he needed to be fill his big brother's shoes when Seto needed it the most.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

Seto (¬_¬) - now

I'm fine. Focused on something at the moment. I'm downstairs.

Thank you for the coffee. I needed it.

"You need a lot more than that..."Mokuba muttered.

During lunch hour, Mokuba checked in on Seto down in the labs, finding that he was still taking calls when they were necessary. For the most part, he seemed to be going back and forth with the technicians on the more mundane side of the programming while the set-up was disassembled. The chairs were pushed off to one side, and wires were being rearranged into the computer mainframe.

"Are you gonna be you tomorrow or am I?" Mokuba asked, and he pushed his lunch towards Seto, who was more interested in the coffee that was provided.

"I'll be me tomorrow. Too much to ignore. The meeting went well?" Seto asked, and he reached over to take a few bites from the lunchbox, clearly made up for two.

"Yep. Ebi-chan emailed you the details. Any progress?"

No answer. That was the extent of the conversation; the technicians drew Seto back over to something that they were fiddling with, and Mokuba didn't think he would hold his brother's attention any longer.

The rest of the day went on monotonously, and by five, Mokuba left out the door, a separate bodyguard following him while Isono went back to Seto. Mokuba demanded updates, and forced Isono to remind Seto to eat dinner, as well as attempt to get him to go home. Pictures included.

There wasn't a doubt in Mokuba's mind where he was going; he was back at the hospital, nodding to the nurse as he approached Jounouchi's door. Even through her thick veil of auburn hair, he could tell it was Shizuka sitting outside the door. Her arms held tight around her purse, elbows on her knees while she scrolled through her phone.

"Hey," Mokuba greeted.

"Hey."

Mokuba sat beside her. "Your mom in there?"

"Yeah. They're letting us in longer now. And together. They say he should be out of the worst of it," she said. "But Mom just likes the alone time. And...I needed a break."

Mokuba smile-grimaced, nodding. "I understand."

Silence fell between them. Mokuba's hands settled together in his lap, his eyes on the bodyguard at the end of the hall. He wondered, as he looked back at Shizuka, if she blamed him as much as he blamed himself. If someone was really targeting him, and that Jounouchi was just collateral damage.

"Hey, Mokuba-kun." Yuugi's voice drew Mokuba out of his thoughts.

"Yuugi," Mokuba looked up, seeing the spiky haired man coming up, a small basket of flowers in his hands. "Hey. Seems we all had the same thought, huh?"

"Mm-hm. I think Honda said he might drop by if he doesn't get off too late," Yuugi said. "Did Anzu come with you?" He asked to Shizuka.

"She just left to go get something to drink. She should be back in a minute," Yuugi smiled, and sat down to the other side of Shizuka. She was eyeing the flowers, reaching out and rubbing the petals between her fingers. "Did you bring those for a Katsuya?"

"Yeah. It was kinda Grandpa's idea, too. Since hospitals smell so bad, he says."

"He's not wrong," Shizuka laughed. "I'm sure he'll love them. We'll have to take care of them."

Mokuba's tenseness loosened, and he peered over the flowers that Shizuka held her hands out for, looking over the simple white petals on them. "Any news?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah, any good news?" Mokuba piggy-backed.

"Well. Sort of?" She said. "They think they'll take him off the ventilator in a day or two. And while they were doing some tests, he reacted a bit when they moved him. So they think he has a better chance of waking up, but..."

"That's great!" Mokuba said. He would cling to anything.

Shizuka nodded. "Yeah. It shouldn't be too long, I don't think. Katsuya's a fighter."

"An understatement," Yuugi said.

The door opened, and Kawai-san stepped out. "I thought I heard more voices out here," she said. Mokuba leaned forward. Though he and Kawai-san had sat together the day before, waiting for their respective turns, they hadn't said much to one another, only shared a box of tissues.

Now, her eyes were more pointed on him.

"I'm gonna go set the flowers up in there," said Shizuka.

"Here, I'll come with you," Yuugi said. Mokuba stood to follow them.

The mother's eyes softened as her daughter brushed by her, and moved to give Yuugi a little more room. When Mokuba approached, she blocked the door. "Can I talk to you a moment?" She asked.

Mokuba's hands dug into his pockets. "Yeah, of course."

"Thank you," Kawai-san closed the door behind them. "I wanted to say that I...I do appreciate that you're helping my son in this tough time. Really,..."

"But?" Mokuba asked. How many businessmen had he heard trail off like that before?

"But, and this is nothing against you, but I would be even more appreciative if you could leave Kaiba-san out of it."

"What?"

Kawai-san sighed. "He came by last night, stayed for maybe five minutes, stormed out, and then Katsuya had an adverse reaction. His blood pressure dropped and his heart beat became irregular—"

"Seto was here last night?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"Seto came by," Mokuba said to himself. His vision blurred, and his head dropped. Why hadn't Seto said anything? Especially after the proposal for testing? Collecting a shaken breath, Mokuba looked up to Kawai-san, his hands digging further into his pockets.

"Could we arrange that, please? For Katsuya's sake?" She asked.

"I don't know," Mokuba said. "Probably not. Nii-sama does what he wants."

"So I've noticed. But if you could talk to him—"

"It's not really going to work, you know," Mokuba said. "If he wants to come by, he's going to come by."

"They're not together anymore," said Kawai-san. "He doesn't even have a right to be here. I know Katsuya wouldn't want it."

"You do?" Mokuba asked. He stepped closer to Kawai-san. "He told you that? When? Last night? A minute ago?"

"Well, n-no."

"Because I talked to him three days ago. When he could still talk! When's the last time you talked to him? Huh? How do you know what he wants!" Mokuba's hands balled into fists in his pockets. "My brother has every right to be here as much as Yuugi, or Shizuka, or...or even you! You certainly weren't there when Katsuya needed food, or a roof over his head, but my brother was!"

"Look, I'm just trying to think what's best for—"

"Seto pulled Katsuya out of a dark place," Mokuba said. "Where were you then? Huh? Where was his fucking mother! Huh!"

"Mokuba-kun?" A hand laid on Mokuba's shoulder, and he flinched, his arm flung back towards the touch. Anzu lingered next to him, face contorted to fear and hand clenched at her chest. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm done," Mokuba said. A brief look was spared to the mortified mother, before he turned and began down the hall, hands returned to his pockets.

"He's always so nice..." Mokuba heard Kawai-san stammer.

"What did you say to him?" Anzu asked.

"...nothing."

Mokuba braced his hands on the wall beside the elevator, one palm slamming into the bricks, cursing Kawai-san. Cursing Seto, of all people, but only for hiding the truth from him. At least maybe, now, Seto could come to grips with it. So said his sudden desperation for a distraction.

Weeks went by. Mokuba visited every day after work, but never heard another word of Seto doing the same. At least not from the silent Kawai-san, who would greet him when he arrived and say her good-byes when he left.

By the end of the first month, the visits were becoming more scarce. Kawai-san came up on weekends. Shizuka spent as much time as she could when she wasn't in classes, using a majority of her off days with her older brother. Often, Mokuba would find her leaning against the side of the bed, reading her textbooks out loud to Jounouchi, displaying the two-page art spans and snickering at the critic's interpretations.

Plenty of her drawings of him, quick character studies, were hanging up on the small closet in the corner of the room. They were taped up by the nurses, set into even rows showing the different stages of healing. A steady progression of a face full of cuts and bruises to just the uneven crook of his nose and the still-red scar forming over his right ear, though the hair was growing in around it again.

"Mai said she's coming back Europe here in a few days," Shizuka was saying as Mokuba walked in. "She's gonna come visit, so she says you gotta look good for her, okay? I'll bring in some scissors, we'll get you a hair cut. Look at this."

Setting her sketchbook on the edge of the bed, Shizuka reached up to brush some of Jounouchi's hairs out of his eyes. Her hand trailed down his cheek and to his chest, settling against his breast and watching as her hand raised and lowered, slow and steady.

"He may need a shave, too," Mokuba said.

Shizuka chuckled, her hand lifting from Jounouchi's chest. "You hear that? Mokuba thinks you need to shave. I just did that three days ago," she said. A moment of quiet, and then to Mokuba she said: "He says 'ain't nothin' wrong with lookin' a little rugged'."

Mokuba failed at containing his laughter as he sat down beside Shizuka. "He said that, huh? Yeah, well, there's a difference between 'rugged' and 'messy' Jou."

It didn't seem like there was a point to talking to Jounouchi at first. Mokuba didn't believe that he was hearing anything to begin with, so there was no point in babbling. But Shizuka always was, making up conversations and doing a poor impression of her brother's slang, though her hands always seemed clenched in fists at her hips, imitating his machismo instead. After awhile, it was easier to sit there talking to Jounouchi, even when Shizuka wasn't there. Yuugi had a tendency to do the same, giving his best friend updates about everything that was happening with their friends. When the nurses would enter and shift him or change the sheets, someone would usually make a reply in Jounouchi's stead, to get the nurse to 'hmph' at them, suppressing a smile.

"I like my messy; Mai's gonna love it too. No shavin' me Shi-chan!" Shizuka imitated.

"But nii-chan..." she answered in her own own voice.

Back to her impression. "Nope! No razor near me!"

Mokuba still couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I remember, one morning, we were getting ready to go somewhere...but we were just getting on a plane first, not actually going, and nii-sama refused to leave until Jou shaved," he said. "That was such a weird argument. He ended up doing it for Jou. Put him in a chair and everything."

Shizuka chuckled. "Sounds about right."

"You remember that, Jou?" Mokuba asked.

"I bet he does," Shizuka said. She returned to her drawing, looking up every so often to catch the light as it spilled over Jounouchi's face. "He always told me about those stupid fights. I think he liked them; said he liked seeing Kaiba-kun so serious about the stupid things."

"Yeah, I think you're right."

Mokuba slipped his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling, scanning over a few emails. It was a pleasant sound, Shizuka's pencils scratching against her sketchbook. He felt at peace sitting and talking like this, reminiscing in way he hadn't been able to with either Jounouchi or Seto. Though he could say that Jounouchi was far less stubborn than Seto, and occasionally would slip after a beer or two.

"Mom said Kaiba-kun stopped in once," Shizuka said. "Is he going to again?"

"I don't know. He's been pretty wrapped up in work."

Shizuka rolled her eyes. "Is that what he's saying when you ask?"

"I stopped asking. Waste of breath."

"Well, you know, maybe he just needs reminded," said Shizuka.

Mokuba's phone lowered to his lap. "He's gonna work himself to death instead," he said. "He's gone off the deep end on this crazy project of his. I think that's his version of dealing with this."

"Maybe," Shizuka said. "What project?"

"I..."He really couldn't say, was what he began with. But what did it matter with Shizuka? "It's this weird dream project."

"What? Duelling in a dream?" Shizuka asked.

"No, not like that," Mokuba said. "It's really supposed to be like a virtual reality where you can like, make your own game in your head while you're asleep. Saving your dreams, too, maybe. Seto said it has a lot of different possibilities, but I don't think he exactly knows what he wants to do with it. He started it two years ago or so, something like that, just as something to play with. Mess around with the capabilities of the neural interface he made with the newer Duel Disks."

"That's kinda neat. Making games in your dreams?"

"And playing with other people who are online. Building together," Mokuba said. "I think it's a little scary. Cool, but scary. People's brains are a mess."

"Yeah," Shizuka said. Her pencil sat down on the sketchbook, and she lifted it up to compare her drawing. "I mean, if it has so many capabilities, he should put it on Katsuya and see what happens. We can see what he's dreaming. Or someone can."

Mokuba's thumbs hovered over his phone screen, and his head lifted, overlooking Jounouchi. "You think he's dreaming?"

"I dunno. Probably," she replied. "He always had pretty active dreams. He'd always be rolling out of bed."

Mokuba began to text Seto, erasing it several times, before finally settling on the right words.

〜(^∇^~)Mokuba - 15m ago

Hey. Got an idea. Hear me out, seriously.

You still need someone to Invictus with? If you think you have it stable enough right now why not use try it with Jou? He's hooked up to monitors already, so he's all set to go. And, in some way, he's perpetually asleep.

I know that sounds wrong, maybe. I don't really like to think of it that way, but you said this project had a lot of possibilities. Maybe it could help in the medical field, too? Jou could maybe be the test for that.

We could find out what happens to a person's subconscious when they're in a coma like he is. It may provide some pretty valuable data for us, at least as far as the project is concerned.

And if we're lucky, maybe it can help us figure out a way to help people that are stuck like he is. Maybe we could also wake Jou up. Wouldn't that be pretty awesome?

The texts came through in a flurry, and when Kaiba looked at his look screen, he was a little mortified by Mokuba's long blurbs of text that forced him to read them in app. It was one thing to receive a million texts at once that all said nothing, but these? Mokuba wanted something, and he wanted it bad.

"Ebi-san," Kaiba said, stopped by his secretary's desk as he read through the texts.

"Yessir?"

"...can you pull up Dr. Usami's profile for me?"

A few strokes of the keyboard. "What are you looking for, sir?"

"Does he work in Domino Hospital at all? Or is he mainly out of Touto?"

"Give me a moment," she said.

As she skimmed through the profile, Kaiba replied to Mokuba.

Seto (¬_¬)

The project is stable, but we still have bugs after the hub world is breached.

Comatose patients don't dream. They hardly have brain functions.

An immediate reply:

〜(^∇^~)Mokuba - now

You don't know that. No one knows. But we could know. You could be the first person in the world to find out. Wouldn't that be a good way to market the technology later?

Kaiba felt a small laugh bubble up in his chest.

"He has connections to Domino Hospital. He works in their neurology department, it appears. At least when the need to call in an expert."

"Perfect," Kaiba replied. "Contact him and have him sign over authorisation to allow for Jounouchi Katsuya to be moved into the KaibaCorp. infirmary. Make sure he is listed as the primary attending."

"Sir?"

"Must I repeat myself?" Kaiba asked. Ebi-san picked up the phone and dialled.

Seto (¬_¬)

I'm not a panel of investors, Moki. Try again.

You want to try and wake up Jounouchi. You said so yourself. Tell me what you really want out of this.

Kaiba's phone began to ring after Mokuba spent several minutes trying to compose a text and then suddenly stopped. It seemed that wasn't going to cut it.

"What's going on?" Kaiba answered.

"I want Jou to wake up, you're right. He's been like this for a month...and it might be longer. His chances decrease the longer he's unconscious, they say. They don't know if he'll wake up," said Mokuba.

"I can't guarantee anything," Kaiba replied. "He may not have a mind to connect the headset to."

"He's not a vegetable. He's responding sometimes. That means he's there at least," Mokuba said. "If you're gonna say no just say it."

Kaiba hummed, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ebi-san giving him a thumbs up. She began to scribble down details on a steno pad, which Kaiba read as instructions regarding Jounouchi's condition and what kind of care he was going to require.

"I never said I was going to say 'no'. I said I wasn't sure if there was anything for him to connect to, and that I can't guarantee anything. Does that sound like a 'no' to you?"

"Seto...really? Really!"

"Yes, really. In the next few hours they'll be transporting Jounouchi to our facility. We may be up all night doing the initial run. Are you prepared?"

Mokuba was talking, faintly, to someone else in the room. There was a high-pitched scream and giggle. Shizuka. "Of course, nii-sama. I'll be over when they move him. See you!" They hung up.

"Everything's ready to go, Kaiba-san," Ebi-san said. "I'm going to have the infirmary prepared for Jounouchi-san's required care."

Kaiba nodded. "Have R and D set up Invictus near there as well. I only need Nakajima."

"Yessir."

Even with the knowledge of Jounouchi coming to the facility, Kaiba felt mentally unprepared as he entered the infirmary. It didn't feel like a particularly large place, but it encompassed half of the seventh floor, and with enough space that even though Nakajima, Usami and Mokuba were already present, as well as a handful of technicians who were finishing the set up on the opposite side of the room, and then left, it wasn't cramped.

It must have shown, too, how unprepared he was. The door was slid open, but he stood in the threshold, overlooking Jounouchi as Usami made him comfortable, adjusting all manner of machinery around him.

His face as more recognisable now, though his bangs were swept into his eyes. How he wished, for a fraction of a second, that those eyes would open and look at him. Sucking in a breath, taken aback as Jounouchi's body leaned forward, Kaiba had to realize that he wasn't moving on his own. Usami propped him up, sliding his hand beneath Jounouchi's neck to make enough room for the headset to be placed on him.

"How's his condition?" Kaiba asked.

"Stable," Usami replied. "Welcome, Kaiba-san."

Mokuba looked up from the edge of the bed, being fussy with the blanket as he eased it over Jounouchi's casted leg. Kaiba was grateful; he didn't need to see the injuries.

"Is it syncing to him?" Approaching the bed, Kaiba saw where a red line was blinking on the side of the headset. It became a solid line as Kaiba leaned against the railing. "Seems there's still something rolling around in his head."

"Nii-sama," Mokuba whined. "Don't be mean."

"I'm being honest," Kaiba said. "Start running the program with the newest adjustments. We're going to use the wired version for now. Test subject may be shaky or completely unresponsive. If this is the case, the relay should deactivate on his side. Wake me if that is the case."

"Yessir."

Kaiba laid on the bed that was set up besides Jounouchi's, fighting himself to not look over. There was no reason to look over. Jounouchi hadn't moved. He wouldn't blink, wouldn't twitch, and wouldn't laugh.

That laughter.

That infectious laughter felt like it was the only thing he had been hearing in these tests as of late. No matter what kind of dream he was having, what kind of world he was trying to build, he was confident that Jounouchi was behind him, laughing at something idiotic.

Usami began placing the stickers on Kaiba's chest while the executive put the headset on. A syringe point went to his arm. Kaiba grabbed the doctor's wrist, and looked up and over to see where Mokuba was busy helping Nakajima in the corner.

"If Jounouchi becomes unstable at any point, prioritise him," Kaiba said, his voice hushed. His hand gripped tighter to Usami's wrist. "Do you understand?"

"Of course, Kaiba-san."

"Don't disobey me."

"I would never," he said. The tip of the syringe broke skin. Kaiba's eyes flicked to Mokuba, confident he couldn't hear.

"Not even for Mokuba," Kaiba added.

"O-of course, Kaiba-san."

Though his mind began to fade out, feeling the sedative overtake him, Kaiba felt a pair of hands around his. "Be careful, nii-sama," Mokuba said, though his voice was distant. "I'll be here when you wake up."

"I...will see you..."

Those words felt like they were floating, falling, with him as his body slipped into the haze of sleep. His eyes were open, adjusting to the world that was generating around him, the last of the pixels falling into place. It was a plan, white, round room. Infinitely long, and impossibly bright, to the point that his eyes burned when he first opened them.

Kaiba sat upright, his hands set on his knees, and he peered around the room. The 'hub world' that he had made, lacking any fringe details, but serving as a good place for his mind to start in. For their minds to start in, before they began to wander.

Across from Kaiba was a single door, closed, which allowed for him to enter his territory. And if he was correct, behind him there would be another door, which should have lead into Jounouchi's territory. Between both of them was a third door, where the two places could merge.

Standing, he twirled to the chair that was back to back with his, expecting a messy mop of blonde hair sitting upright, though maybe not fully awake.

But it was empty.

"Well lookit ya," he heard. Kaiba lifted his gaze from the chair to the other door. There Jounouchi leaned, arms crossed. A shit-eating grin was on his face. Kaiba couldn't find his voice. "Been a while, ain't it?"