Author's note: This was suppose to be done on Monday, but no...I had to forget what happened and now I'm salvaging whatever I can remember and make it decent. It's really hard to get into character because I've been trying to 'communicate' in a sense to see what they would say. Seto said strange profanities to me, Noah vowed to put a virus on my computer and Mokuba was sugar high in my mind. Note: Kaiba brothers are NOT fun to get into character with.
In the beginning of this, there's little ideas I have for Noah's life before he died to explain a few things about him. I'm planning to do a full length explanation when I get the chance (when that will be I will never know...). Also I honestly have no idea why the cowboys think Roland's from New York, they just kind of do. Anyway, those were just a few things that were bothering me.
Right, here's Chapter 7!
Hatred's Still a Blooming!
"So those kids said to me: 'If you're so strong, then stop this truck' then they pushed me in front of it and that's how I ended up here." Noah was seated on the floor and looked at the expressions of the other two. Mokuba had an expression of mild horror, but was trying to understand. Seto…
"I think I've been sent to my own eternal damnation." Seto looked ready to claw his eyes out.
"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Noah defended, indignant that he spilled his guts out and still had no remorse from Seto.
"Maybe when you told me your mother died when you were born. You didn't have to explain the twenty year age difference or that you had a wet nurse until you were five! I knew Gozaburo did something to you that turned you into a pervert, but I didn't want to know the exact details of it!"
"What about the other stuff?"
"Proves you're a rich brat. 'My father starved my horse because it lost a horse show.'" Seto answered blandly of what Noah explained for the last three hours. Give or take.
"And you have nothing to say?"
"I have plenty to say, but none of them are positive. Except maybe this one, go to therapy. A shrink whom you pay a hundred bucks an hour will care more than me." Mokuba furrowed his brow disapprovingly at his brother's disparagement of their step-brother.
"Remember, you're not supposed to talk anymore." Seto reminded of their agreement, Noah had his knees drawn to his chest and lifted his head to glare at Mokuba saying: 'See? He doesn't care at all.' Then his forehead returned to its original position.
Mokuba couldn't believe this! Noah had apologized and Seto didn't care in the least. He knew Seto didn't forgive people so easily, but this was their family. Noah's part of this family now and if he can't forgive his own family, then Seto's a liar.
He said Mokuba and him we're family and nothing was going to change that. Mokuba forgave Seto for many things and Seto did the same for him. People make mistakes, why can't Noah make them too? If he can't make mistakes and can't be forgiven, then this isn't a family because families forgive each other. Especially the person who did the stupid mistake was sorry. So that made Seto a liar in his mind.
Seto thought he handled it well, if Noah thought that sharing his drama story was going to make Seto understand, then that little brat had another thing coming.
Apparently, Mokuba thought the exact opposite. Noah was a huddled form between them, facing Mokuba and must've given him a face because his baby brother was glaring at him. Seto couldn't believe this was repeating itself! Noah had once again manipulated his brother and turned him against the brunet. Well if that green pervert thought he was getting away with this, then he had another thing coming. Seto was going to have a word with Mokuba…in private…later.
Or sooner…they heard scarping above them, an exchange of glances between the three and no one questioned as to what the sound was because they all thought the same thing.
Shovels!
"I'm not imagining those sounds, right?" Noah asked; Seto didn't even bother to point out Noah spoke when he wasn't suppose to. The latch bursting open to see dull sunlight-meaning sunset-filtered through and the darkness was gone. Mokuba and Noah rejoiced, and immediately scampered to where the light was coming through.
Muscular arms reached down to grasp Mokuba first, on one of those arms there was a giant tattoo of a bull covering the entire forearm.
"Nice mop of hair there kid." When Mokuba's feet were on whatever was left of the roof, the man who pulled him out introduced himself as Brock and messed Mokuba's hair as if they were old friends. "Surprised you survive with this on your head." Mokuba swatted the hand away in a huff, even if he saved him, Mokuba didn't like 'Brock' in his personal space.
The other men thought it was funny and chuckled lightly, but it could have been because another man was tugging Noah up. Well with Noah's red hair and evident sunburn, there was going to be a wisecrack.
"That's some funky hair ya got going on." This man was of Native American descent and couldn't resist feeling this sticky mop with seasoning showing on the locks. In shock, he pulled his hand back and sniffed the red that transferred to his hand. "Hm, Bertolli?" All the men started to laugh at the remark; Noah crossed his arms undignified.
"Alright guys, that's enough." Bill calmed the laughter, seeing the two boys were not fond of being made picked on after their ordeal. "They've been through a lot, no need to pick on them."
"Oh no, you can still pick on Noah." Seto had decided to join them, rejecting anyone's help; hoisting himself out with little effort. Noah merely furrowed his brow, and stuck his tongue out with a rude gesture. "Very mature,"
"MR. KAIBA!"
"Roland!?" the Kaiba brothers said in utter shock that the employee was still alive. (How did you think these guys found you in the first place?)
Dumb luck, Seto thought while the authoress went to go beat herself against something sharp making Roland's run of joy from the trooper to them in slow motion.
…
…
…
"I don't think keeping him inside the trooper worked Bill." Brock muttered and the other men shook their heads, clearly very spend from Roland's little 'exposure to the sun'. The running returned to normal speed as Roland went crashing right into Seto, sobbing hysterically.
It's like Noah only three feet taller. The brunet thought, trying to release himself, but with little luck as Roland had his arms pinned to his sides.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Kaiba!"
"It's fine Roland."
"I'm such an idiot!"
"I know Roland."
"I should have died!"
"We'll just have to live with giving you no paycheck for the next year." All sobbing and crying ceased from the adult, and Roland pulled away with a horrified expression.
"You don't really mean that, do you sir?" Seto resisted rolling his eyes at the adult who was very concerned that his boss would actually do that sort of thing. Apparently, Roland couldn't tell what sarcasm was.
"I'll dock your pay for the week when we get back home." Seto compromised, he honestly wasn't in the mood-being stuck in a RV for the whole day-to explain his last retort was a joke.
"Uh…I guess that's fine."
…
…
…
"Roland!"
"Yes sir?"
"Let go of me." Roland was about to obey, but notice how his boss' hands were clenched in tight fists, shaking.
"No." Roland clamped on tighter.
"Roland!" Seto hissed; trying to break out of the man's grasp, its ninety degrees outside, he doesn't need someone clutching him!
"No, you're going to hit me!"
"I will, if you don't let go of me!"
"Are they lovers or something?" the Native American asked Mokuba and Noah. Everyone laughed again, Seto throwing off Roland and making vows to have him transferred to a Kaibacorp in this country!
They had to leave the RV behind and they all decided they were going to do what they should have done in the first place. Rent a car and stay in a hotel! Noah was somewhat complaining that they had time to save Seto's laptop and all of Mokuba's stuff, but not his stuff. Until, Seto reminded him he wasn't suppose to talk and told everyone to disregard what he just said.
Anyway, they had stopped at the local gas station momentarily, because Mokuba (and all the other men) couldn't wait for food. Since, they were their 'designated drivers' they were stuck there. Seto was on his laptop trying to pay off the indisposed RV and finding a driving agency that would drive a car over to their hotel. Idle cursing proved it was not going his way.
"God damn RV cost three hundred grand!" Seto bellowed; Mokuba had joined his brother's side, chewing on a Slim Jim, happy to have food in his stomach.
"You sound surprised." Mokuba replied sarcastically, "How much did you expect it to cost?"
"If we didn't have to get the biggest one-"
"Both you and Noah agreed that the bigger it was, the farther away you two can be from each other."
"Speaking of the spoiled brat…"
"Seto,"
"Mokuba," they glared at each other, until Mokuba was forced to quit. The only thing that could compete with Seto Kaiba's glare was probably a…plasma beam. Yeah that's good; a little exaggerated, but makes the point, "What the hell was that about?"
"Could you try not to curse?"
"Mokuba," Mokuba groaned and sluggishly slid onto the bench where his brother sat. This was going to take a while. "What did you tell him!?"
"I just told him to make amends-"
"By torturing me?"
"He just wants you to understand that…" the boy stopped just then, as if something else came to mind.
"You're making this up as you go aren't you?"
"No, just finding the right words hold on." Mokuba held his finger up for his pause and continued. "Why he acts the way he does is because it was how he was brought up…so he wants you to understand that he can't help it."
"HN…he's brainwashed you more than I thought." Even though he whispered it, Mokuba gaped at Seto before his face turned a deep violet.
"WHAT!?" the dark haired boy demanded, jumping from his seat to point an accusing finger at Seto. "Oh come on Seto! He's trying to make amends and your taking it and smacking it right back in his face!"
"It's what I do with any pathetic sob that thinks they can get me to understand by sharing their sad story."
"He's not your employee Seto; he's your step-brother!"
"Precisely."
…
…
…
"Couldn't you make an exception?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"You know why."
"Because of what happened in the virtual world?"
"No Mokuba, because he drinks all the orange juice, and puts the carton back in the refrigerator." Seto responded sardonically; Mokuba creased his forehead censoriously.
"He apologized."
"Not to me."
"He did most of the damage to me Seto, although putting me against you was kind of bad."
"You know nothing about what he did to me." Seto hissed, Mokuba raised a curious eyebrow at the abrupt comment.
"Then explain it to me." Of course, Seto decided to clamp up and not share anymore information. Mokuba shrugged vaguely and walked to away with his Slim Jim. "Fine, keep it in, although it's not fair to Noah that you hate him and he doesn't know why."
Oh, he knows alright. He tried to take over his company, turn his brother against him, but the worse part of it all; Noah forced him to endure all those horrible memories with that bastard. Also having to see that bastard in person, sure beating his ass again was all too sweet, but….
Seto's hand unconsciously reached under the back collar of his shirt. Touching the small of his back, where one of the most vivid memories from that bastard was permanently placed. The brunet paused and immediately pretended to rub his nape, then went back to get a rental on a car or buy it.
That little brat should know what he did, even unintentionally Noah should know what he did and if he didn't….
Then he was a manipulative moron.
"May I sit here?" speaking of the devil; the spawn of Satan was standing right next to him.
"No, go sit on that cactus over there." Seto growled; he didn't see Noah's reaction, but heard a loud scoff.
"Mokuba thought I was being unreasonable, oh I wish he was here right now." Noah said gleefully and plopped down next to the CEO.
"What do you want Noah?" Seto snapped the question savagely, familiar loathing for this little brat was returning and it felt good.
"Just to apologize,"
"Hm?" that took him by surprise.
"You know, acting all crazy and stuff." Noah said vaguely, dragging his fingers through his hair only to remember he washed his hair with pasta sauce and wrenched his fingers back in disgust.
"Stuff?" Seto asked; if Noah was going to apologize he wanted to hear everything that little brat did wrong.
"You know, calling you names, throwing sand in your eyes-which was kind of fun-"
"Excuse me?"
"But I digress, basically this was my entire fault we had to go on this trip in the first place, so sorry about that. I'm no fonder of my father than you."
"Doubtful."
"Probably."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing I'm aware of."
Manipulative moron. Seto thought sourly, he clamped the laptop shut tightly and stalked off, bumping into Mokuba. "Mokuba,"
"Yes?"
"The only way I will ever get along with Noah is if I turned his hair from green to red!" then kept going his way. Mokuba seemed a bit confused by that statement seeing as Noah's head was….
"Uh Seto…"
"I mean with a bloody brick!" Seto clarified, Mokuba nodded his head in relief.
"Thanks for clearing that up." The boy shook his head, and then continued to round the station to find Noah, lying out on the bench with a troubled look as he pondered.
"Whatchya thinking?"
"Hm? Apparently Seto still hates me." Noah replied with mild sarcasm.
"Yeah, the only way to find out why he hates you is if he tells, but that's never going to happen. Unless we get him drunk…"
"We'd have to wait almost two years." Noah mused, sitting up; he looked at Mokuba and grinned slightly. "So could I go back to hating him?" Mokuba sighed; well at least he understood this rivalry…sort of.
"Like you need my permission," Mokuba retorted, sitting down again. All of this was giving him a headache.
"Oh Mokuba," Noah laughed halfheartedly, shaking the dazed boy back to reality. "Don't worry this will be more of a…sibling rivalry than, 'I'm going to kill you' rivalry."
"Thanks, I feel so much better." Mokuba mumbled, resting his face in his hands.
"Well I have no choice; once we get out of here he'll begin with some wisecracks about me going crazy, and the sunscreen thing…" the boy trailed off as inspiration struck. "This is all Seto's fault!"
"Wow that was quick."
"No, listen to me! Remember when we had a choice between taking the road or going straight through the desert?"
"Yes."
"Who said 'I'm not going to wait another five hours, let's go straight through the desert and get on the thruway that way'?" Mokuba's head shot up remembering this and narrowed his eyes.
"Seto…"
"Exactly."
"We should get revenge."
"Exactly!"
"But how…" Mokuba began to think, but Noah gave him the answer. He whisked out a bag he bought in the gas station.
"Water balloons!"
"You were planning this the entire time weren't you?"
"Exactly!!! No one insults my sad story and gets away with it!"
This wasn't the ending I was going for at all! The story was suppose to be done in this chapter, but I had to lengthen it for myself!
This is what happens when you try to go into character...I highly don't recommend it.
