/Text/ Spirit to Host

/Text/ Host to Spirit


Chapter 2: Dashing Through the Snow…

Domino woke the following morning to a small accumulation of snow on the ground. There wasn't anything on the roads – not yet – but the grass was starting to look frosted over. So far the snow plows and salting trucks kept the bustling downtown streets clear, but the snow was only lightly falling. Eventually, they would be unable to keep up with the snowfall.

High up above the ground at Kaiba Corporation headquarters, the youngest Kaiba sat by the window, watching the flakes slowly make their way past to the sidewalk below. Small clusters of people were mingling around on the sidewalks getting their last bits of shopping done before the holiday, but for the most part, the walkways were clear.

Despite being stuck in his brother's office, Mokuba couldn't wipe the beam off of his face. Only a few more hours to go, and then he would have Seto all to himself, away from any workplace responsibility, and able to get the rest and relaxation he desperately needed.

"Did you see? Did you see? It's getting faster!" Mokuba whirled around excitedly as Seto walked back into the office, a steaming mug in his hand.

"Yes, Mokuba. It's snowing. I know."

"It started earlier than we thought!" said the younger Kaiba energetically, "Does this mean we can leave early too?"

Seto sighed. "There's still the end-of-year wrap up meeting to go. Then we can head out."

Mokuba pouted. "That's going to take forever. You know those suits just like to sit and talk. It makes them sound important."

Seto relaxed into the back of his office chair. "You don't have to tell me that. At least you don't have to sit in the room with them."

Mokuba got up from the floor. "It's starting to stick now, too. Do you think we'll make it to the house before it gets too dangerous?"

"We should," said Seto. "The roads were treated yesterday. Everyone knew this storm was coming. I imagine the crews are out there now working on them. The worst of them is going to be the driveway up to the house itself."

"I think Roland made sure the driveway was treated ahead of time," said Mokuba, "Considering the staff isn't going to be there again till New Year's."

Seto shrugged and began replying to the last minute company emails that snuck their way into his inbox. "Well, if not, you were looking forward to romping in the snow anyways."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but not like that."

Seto plucked a bit of fuzz off of his suit. "Can't always be choosy, Mokuba." He took another sip of coffee and swiveled around to look at his brother watching the snowfall. "I hope you've come up with things to do for the week."

Mokuba shrugged and sat down on the floor in front of the window. "Some things…I don't want to take all of your time. This is supposed to be a relaxing getaway for you too. No Kaiba Corp problems to worry about, no crazies, it'll just you and me out in the wilderness!"

Seto snorted. "It's hardly the wilderness, Mokuba. The road in isn't that long."

Mokuba stuck his tongue out and went back to watching the snow. "It's getting heavier…"

"It's bound to," said Seto, "We aren't going to get the accumulation they estimated on the little flurries that were coming down before." He gathered his coffee and a folder from the desk. "You can stay here until I get out of the meeting. Just be ready to go for when I get back…and please, Mokuba. Don't sneak around the company firewalls on my laptop again. I just finished reformatting the drives after your last boredom attack."

Mokuba held up a hand in a mock salute. "I promise!"

Seto closed the office door behind him and met up with Roland in the hallway. "Did they really have to schedule this meeting today?"

"Probably not, but they do seem to enjoy aggravating you, sir."

"Hn."

"Ground crews arrived a few minutes ago. They're working in the main lot right now."

Seto scowled as they stepped into the elevator. "They should have been here already. The steps at the plaza entrance were already icing over."

"They were delayed; something about a traffic accident downtown."

Seto rolled his eyes as they approached the conference room. "Of course there was. All it takes is a dusting of snow and everyone forgets how to drive."

The meeting was just as ridiculous as he knew it to be. Sure, there was an end-of-year meeting every year, but it seemed as though his board members were more interested in taking about items that had been gone over once before. Nothing about this meeting had to be done on the last office day of the calendar year, which was Seto found most annoying. To top it off, he could swear the clock over the conference room door was moving slower on purpose, just to torture him.

By the time they returned to Seto's office nearly an hour later, they found Mokuba in the office chair spinning around, still by the window.

"Have you been there the entire time?"

"Not all the time, but there was nothing good on TV," said Mokuba, "And it's hard to see what's really going on down on the street cuz we're so high up. How was the meeting?"

"Completely unnecessary," Seto grumbled, "We could have had this done days ago if some people wouldn't drag their feet." He took his chair from his brother and went back to his laptop.

"I thought we were leaving," Mokuba put his hands on his hips. "What are you doing now?"

"Finishing up something I started before. It won't take more than a few minutes."

"Ugh, fine." Mokuba jumped onto the couch and turned to Roland who was standing near the door. "What are you gonna do with your holiday time off, Roland?"

"Nothing fancy, sir. I'll enjoy the peace and quiet."

"You're not going to the cabin with us?" asked Mokuba, though the house was a bit big to be considered a cabin.

"If I remember correctly, there will only be the two of you there, sir. You wanted to spend quality time with your brother, so that's what you'll be getting. Mr. Kaiba will be taking you himself."

"Really? It's really just going to be the two of us?" Mokuba grinned at his brother typing away on the laptop. "I didn't think you would take it that literally."

Seto shrugged, finishing sending his reply, and closed the laptop. "It's what you wanted." He stood up and walked around his desk, grabbing his black overcoat from where it was draped over one of the other office chairs. "But if you don't get your jacket on, we won't go anywhere."

"It's on, it's on!" said Mokuba, practically hopping up and down by the door as Roland watched, amused. He was near skipping down the hall and jammed his finger repeatedly into the elevator button.

"Hitting it multiple times will not summon it faster, Mokuba," said Seto, slipping on his gloves.

"Ugh," Mokuba tapped his foot impatiently, "Where was this thing, on the ground floor?"

"Probably. I imagine anyone who wasn't in the wrap up meeting has gone home already."

"You know, sir," said Roland, looking down at Mokuba, "You'll still have to wait for it to return you to the main level."

"It'll be faster cuz we'll be in it!" said Mokuba, as the door chimed. "Finally!"

Seto glanced at Roland suspiciously as the elevator doors closed behind them. "Did you give him anything today?"

"No, sir."

"Oooooooh, it's so white outside!" Mokuba bolted the instant the doors reopened. The entirety of the front lobby was made of floor-to-ceiling windows, and there was nothing to see outside but the falling snow.

"Where's the car?"

Roland gestured to the plaza. "Fuguta brought it around to the front, sir. It should be down at the end of the sidewalk."

Seto peered out the window nearest to the main entrance and scowled. "They didn't treat the plaza?"

"I believe they're working on it, sir. It is coming down harder now than before."

"I suppose it doesn't much matter now, since just about everyone is gone at this point," Seto sighed. He looked down at his little brother. "Ready?"

"I've been ready since yesterday," said Mokuba.

"I bet you have," said Seto, "Come on. And –" he grabbed the back of his little brother's jacket as Mokuba nearly skidded three steps out the door. "Don't run."

"Yes, Seto."

"Ease up on the excitement at least until you're in the car, okay kiddo?" Seto ruffled his brother's unruly hair before heading down the plaza steps.

Or he would have, if his right foot didn't skid out on the ice patch hiding on the top step….


"I can't believe, after all that planning and preparation, you still weren't ready to go this morning," Téa grumbled. "We were supposed to leave hours ago." She and Yugi sat in the backseat of the rental car as Joey eased the car onto the road. Tristan sat up in the front passenger seat with a large map open across his legs.

"I'm sorry okay? Sheesh, you forget to set your alarm one day, and it's like the world is gonna end or somethin'," Joey mumbled.

"It's okay, Joey. We didn't know it was going to start this early," said Yugi, "So long as the main roads are okay, we should get there just fine."

"Yeah, see Téa? Yugi's got the right attitude," said Joey.

"Remind us again why you put Tristan in charge of directions though?" asked Téa.

"What are you talkin' about, Téa? Tristan's my wingman!"

"He also couldn't tell what a river was on the last map, remember?" said Téa, crossing her arms.

Tristan sighed loudly. "A brief moment of weakness! I got this, Téa. Don't be a backseat driver."

"Okay, okay, fine."

"It sure is hard to see out there," Joey grumbled under his breath. He gripped the wheel tighter as the car slid a bit to the side before righting itself.

"Do you think we should have waited for the storm to pass before setting out?" Yugi asked worriedly before quickly adding, "Not that we won't get there, of course…."

"I wish, man. Today's the last day we could get there to do redeem the prize. Would have been nice to go sooner but we weren't allowed out of school. If we don't check in today, I'll lose out on the whole thing."

Téa sighed. "It's not like you had to pay for any of it though."

"Eh – technicalities, Téa."

Yugi decided to tune out the bickering in the car by looking out the window. There wasn't too much to see but the occasional car on the other side of the road. Trees lined the roadway, making them feel out in the middle of the woods.

/I see what you mean by dangerous,/ said Yami. /It is very hard to see what's out there right now./

/Yeah. I'm surprised we've been faring as well as we have, considering we left so late and the storm started last night, when we all thought it would be sometime this afternoon!/

/Luck is on our side, I suppose./

"So…Trist', where's the next turn?"

"Uh….."Tristan looked down at the map, back out the windshield at the road in front of him, and back to the map.

"You were paying attention to where we were…weren't you?" asked Téa.

"Of course I was!" Tristan snapped. "Just give me a second to get my bearings."

"A second's all you got, man," said Joey, "We can't just slam on the brakes if we miss the turn. It's snowin' worse up here than it was back home."

"It's from the path the storm was taking, remember?" said Téa. "Domino was only on the fringe of it."

"AH! Turn left there, Joey!"

"What!? Geezuz Tristan!"

Yugi and Téa reached up for the grab handles, as Joey steered the car none too gently around the corner. Thankfully there were no other cars around or Yugi was certain they would have ended up in an accident.

"Careful, Joey!"

Joey let out the breath he didn't realize he was even holding in as the car finally righted itself in the lane. "You guys ok?"

Yugi leaned back against the seat. "I'm glad I didn't eat much this morning."

Joey knocked Tristan in the back of the head. "You gotta warn me of those turns sooner!"

"Ack –hey, I'm sorry!"

"You better be! Now long till the next turn?"

Tristan looked down at the directions. "Looks like it's going to be a straight run for a while, and then the road is going to take a pretty big curve to the left. After that we hit the highway."

"Okay."

They slowly continued their trek down the road. The line of trees seemed to get denser the further in they traveled. Yugi noted that there were no other cars nearby.

"I thought you said this was an access road to the highway," he said, "I expected more cars to be around than just us."

"Yeah, me too," said Téa. "Unless everyone decided not to travel today."

Joey steered the car around a rather long rightward curve in the road. "Uh…so where's the route to the highway?"

Tristan frowned and looked at the map. "It should be almost right here?" He leaned forward, trying to look out the windshield through the sea of white. "Uh…?"

"There's no road here, Tristan!"

"What's that up there?" asked Téa. "That looks like a street."

"There – see? I didn't steer you wrong after all!" said Tristan triumphantly.

Joey gripped the steering wheel tighter. This didn't look like a main road at all. It seemed much too narrow, although that could have been from the snow. It didn't seem like it had been cleared in some time. "Them road crews ought to be out this way instead of all huddled together back home. How's anyone supposed to get through this way?"

Téa frowned. "Maybe we should turn around and find an alternate path."

"There is no alternate path unless we go all the way back to Domino and start over," said Tristan. "And if we do that, we might as well just stay home and not go at all."

"Yeesh – hold onto your breakfast guys," said Joey, "This street sure is windy, and it looks messy as all getup. Hopefully we won't be on it too long."

Yugi looked around the further along they went. "Somehow, I don't think this is right."

"Me neither," said Téa. "We should have hit the main road by now. The trees are way too dense. I don't think there's anything out here."

"We're on the right street, I'm sure of it," said Tristan, "Who is the navigator here, again?"

Téa let out a huff. "Not us."

"That's right! So you guys just enjoy the scenery and let us do the driving."

Yugi gasped and pointed ahead of them. "Look out Joey, there's deer in the road!"

"There's nowhere to move – the road's too narrow!" Joey cried. "Hang on!"

"To what?" Téa snapped.

"I dunno, each other? They're not movin' so we either hit them or the snow!"

"This is gonna get messy!" Tristan cried.

The deer in the road bounded off towards the trees the exact instant Joey twisted the steering wheel hard to the right. Attempting to right the vehicle, Joey moved the opposite direction, but the car kept skidding out along the frosty path before going off to rest in a snow pile.

"Ugh…" Joey looked around. Thankfully they didn't veer off fast enough to cause a serious crash. The airbags didn't deploy, but he could see they were thoroughly stuck. "Everyone okay? You guys still alive back there?"

"We're still here," said Téa, rubbing her forehead. "But…now what?"