#(anyway y'all send mokuba some hugs and love he needs it after i put him through this ;;;;;;

[universestreasures]

That Haunting Emptiness (Drabble)

Prequel Drabble To This Thread With @shacchou

Looking back, he should have said more. Mokuba was well aware of how important this entire endeavor, this entire search for Atem, was his to Seto. He...He needed to find him; to have that final duel and resolve the rivalry they had developed over the years. It was just something his brother wouldn't just 'get over'. When his brother was obsessed with something, he was obsessed with it till it was seen through. This Mokuba knew well by now.

But...he still can't help but feel regret deep down in his soul for not trying harder to stop this. The chance of success with an untested prototype, no matter how brilliant the design, was not certain. Mokuba knew that. Seto knew that, and yet...his brother still went and did it anyway, left this realm for the world of the afterlife to see his rival again.

This left Mokuba on his own truly for the first time since his brother's coma. Sure, they had times they were separated, such as when they had that confrontation regarding their past where he sought aid from his friends, but...Seto was always there. He was always in the same realm as him. That wasn't the case here, for the two brothers were whole realms apart, separated by the barrier between life and death.

And despite his best efforts to run Kaiba Corporation in his brother's absence on top of his work at school, he...he wasn't handling it well. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, Mokuba's condition physically and mentally worsened. He was barely eating, barely able to sleep, barely able to live. How could he...when his brother, his other half in many ways, his major reason for living, was not with him right now with no guarantee of a return?

Regardless of the circumstances, however, the young boy remained hopeful. His faith in his brother was unmatched, stronger now than it had been years before. His brother would come back. He had to. He couldn't...

He couldn't abandon him...not again...

Mokuba found himself in Seto's office, having taken residence there in his temporary role as acting president. Mochi was in his lap as he stared aimlessly at the computer screen, sitting comfortably there as he petted the soft fur of her back. Normally he wouldn't bring his therapy cat to work daily, but it had become a necessity. Having her around gave him a sense of company when his friends, such as his Buddyfighter crew or the Blue-Eyed Maiden herself Kisara Utahara, could not be present. It was company he desperately needed during these times.

In addition to his feline companion, Mokuba had other items with him. On top of his and Seto's pendents that he wore hidden one of Seto's old blue ties, he also had been given the responsibility of holding onto Seto's physical deck, considering his new Duel Disk system used virtual cards. This included his three trusted Blue Eyes White Dragons, cards Mokuba had always loved. Having those mementos, along with bringing his scrapbooks to work, made things both easier and harder for him. He missed his big brother so much, more than he ever has in his entire life.

Why wasn't he back yet?!

Mokuba's purple hues are then widened as he hears the sound of panicked footsteps from outside the office door, soon enough glancing upon Isano who appeared to look distressed. His face was pale, sweat dripping down his face. Something was wrong, very wrong.

"Master Mokuba! You're needed at the Space Station! Mr. Kaiba...Mr. Kaiba is...!"

The vice president doesn't even let him finish. He's out the door as soon as he hears his brother's name, leaving Mochi in his care. He is pushing through every person in his way, not caring about anything more than being quick. He had one goal in mind: seeing his brother.

"Where is he?! Where is my big brother?!" Mokuba demands as he arrived at the control center for the station, his voice not sounding too unlike the CEO's.

"H-He's up there still, M-Master Mokuba, b-but you should-"

"Then send me up there right away!" He says as he makes his way to the elevator, slipping through the coated scientists who were attempting to block the entrance.

"B-But sir! There is something-"

"I said send me up there, now!!!"

His voice, one akin to a dragon's roar, silenced the workers, all of them moving silently as Mokuba sits down and prepares himself for the ascension into space. Truth be told, he's never actually been up here himself. The elevator only had a single seat, after all. Not only that, he had been wanting to wait for a special occasion to see it for the first time, like his fourteenth birthday that wasn't too far away from now. Seems like that plan would have to be thrown away, for the current situation was more pressing.

As he is locked in and the chair starts moving up towards the stars, his heart raced out of his chest. He isn't sure what he's feeling right now other than the adrenaline. He should be joyful, happy that his brother was back, but Isano and the staff's expressions made him doubt. The boy shakes his head, suppressing all of those thoughts as he approaches the top, the top of the elevator his brother had created.

Upon reaching the station, he jumps out to head to the room where his brother's prototype should be. Despite never having step foot in here, Mokuba had been present during the entire design process. He knew the entire layout by heart. It's why it doesn't take him long to find the room, the doors slowly opening with no sound in the room other than the sounds of the computers humming.

And that's when he sees it, before his very eyes, his brother's prototype...and the person that was inside of it.

"Seto!!!!" The name escapes his lips easily as breathing as soon as the sight of his brother reaches his now watery eyes. Mokuba wastes no time running to his side, pressing the buttons on the side to open the pod. "Thank goodness you're back! I knew you'd come back, Seto! After all, we promised that we would always stay to-"

It is at that moment when the boy's blood runs cold, the euphoria he felt due to his relief all but drying up in an instant. For before him was indeed his brother, but...not in the way the younger brother had hoped. Seto's body was in a rough shape, his clothes torn and covered in a red liquid that Mokuba soon saw coming from the corner of his brother's mouth. The smell of the iron from the blood hit his nose, confirming that what he was seeing was...

"No, no, no! Big Brother? Big Brother!?" On instinct he holds his brother's hands, feeling their coldness immediately upon contact. The tears from his eyes flow into streams, flowing down his cheeks like a river. This...This wasn't...

"HQ? HQ?!" He calls out to the monitor in the room, praying that someone can hear him. "Someone...Someone send a doctor! A doctor up here, now! Seto...Seto needs help! The transport must have been too intense for his body! Hurry, or else he...!"

"Master Mokuba. There is something...we've been trying to tell you."

It is then that Isano, holding Mochi in his arms, appears on the screen, his signature sunglasses having been removed as the other Kaiba Corp employees behind him hung their heads low. Never had Mokuba seen his brother's right hand man without those glasses on, an unpredicted sight that made the pit in his stomach grow larger by the second.

"Master Seto...His..."

"Don't...Don't..." His grip on his brother's hands tightens as his gaze shift's to Seto, his eyes shut and unable to look back at him.

"His heart rate was... non-existent the second we saw him re-enter the station. I...I am sorry, sir. There is...nothing we can-"

"Shut up..."

"But Master Mokuba-"

"Just shut up!!!! My brother isn't...My brother isn't dead!!! He...He can't!!!! He promised!!!! He promised me we would always stay together! Always!!! That he'd come back to me after his stupid duel with a dead man!!! He'll...He'll prove you all wrong!!! Just watch!!!"

His arms then move to hug his brother, not caring that his off-white suit was to be stained with the color of red roses. Tears fall from his eyes and onto his brother's face, his breathing heavy and his body shakes. This...This couldn't be...

"Seto...Come on...Wake...Wake up...Show them that you're gonna be okay...Wake up...Wake up!!!"

But...his pleas went unanswered, no matter how much or how long he cried next to his brother's empty husk. Nothing he nor Kaiba Corporation's resources could do could change the situation. Nothing could change the reality...that Seto Kaiba was...was...

"Seto!!!!!!!!!"

---------------------

Mokuba screams awake, scaring his feline companion who had been attempting to wake him up the moment he started talking and yelling in his sleep. He was not up in the space station, not next to his brother's corpse, but instead back at home...in Seto's bedroom. He had taken to sleeping in there since his brother left, a way to feel closer to the person he wished was at his side.

Mochi finds her way closer to Mokuba, performing her usual repertoire of soothing behaviors to try and help him calm such as kneading his palm. His breath was heavy, his body was shaking, and he felt like sick to his stomach. A hand was over his mouth, as if trying to prevent himself from throwing up as the flashes of what he witnessed replayed in his mind over and over.

He couldn't get the image of his brother, cold and covered in blood, out of his head...

The ever-resourceful kid moves to his phone, checking if any correspondence or updates about his brother's status had been made. Thankfully, or unthankfully depending on how one might see it, there was nothing. His brother...was still missing, but he wasn't...

He drops the phone then to instead open the pair of lockets around his neck, staring at the pictures of himself and his brother intensely, the pictures he clung to during desperate times like this. Seeing Seto's smile, the smile he cherishes, does a bit to help quell his panic. Though, that sight nor Mochi's assistance could do little to fix the fear that had surged through him, the fear for the future that had manifested in the form of this night's nightmare.

A future where Seto...broke his promise. A future where he...died and left him all alone...just like his mother and father did so many years ago...That's what he feared more than anything, and the current situation only made that fear he's had for years...worse...for it seemed more probable now than ever before.

But...Mokuba, despite his struggles and traumatic experiences, was a strong kid, a strong kid because his brother had allowed him to become one through his guidance and selfless protection. It was because of Seto that Mokuba was still able to have hope, still able to believe in the impossible. And it was that feeling, one that slowly was coming to the surface, that guided him to stand up from the bed with Mochi in his arms. He goes to open the curtain in Seto's room, purple hues staring at the stars he could see through the city's skyline.

"Big Brother...I believe...I believe that you're still alive...I don't know when but...we will be together again...I...I just know it..." Despite the shakiness of his words, his conviction is clear. "And I'll wait for you Seto...I'll wait for you...forever if I have to...Just...Just please come home...someday. I...I need you here, just like...I know you need me, too."

It is at that moment, without the boy's knowledge, that a supernatural phenomenon occurred. The boy's strong feelings for his brother, ones of familial love and hope, seemed to have awakened someone. Or more accurately, the parts of the soul of someone who cared for Seto as much as he did.

For inside his brother's deck, sealed protectively in the suitcase on the other side of the room, his three dragons began...to faintly glow, a glow that would soon...light the way for these two brothers to....be reunited.

#💎 Crystalized Hidden Gems (Drabble) #💎 Vice Treasure (Mokuba Kaiba) #💎 President With A Blue-Eyed Lighting (Shacchou) #💎 Vice's Dark Side Story (Mokuba DSOD Verse) #tw long post #tw character death #tw nightmares #tw ptsd #tw blood #(THIS WAS...A DOOZY TO WRITE NGL #(BUT OH I HOPE I PROTRAYED IT WELL CAUSE IM ACTUALLY HAPPY WITH HOW THIS TURNED OUT #(AND HOW I CONNECTED IT TO ME AND ANI'S PRIEST SETO THREAD #(THIS IS A SCENARIO THAT...I NEVER WANT MOKUBA TO EXPERIENCE OUTSIDE OF A DREAM BECAUSE...GOD #(LETS LET THIS KID BE HAPPY #(But him having nightmares about this fear of his makes total sense #(considering what the kids gone through and knowing seto almost died in transcended game as well ;;;; #(anyway y'all send mokuba some hugs and love he needs it after i put him through this ;;;;;;