Chapter Seven-Many Conversations
"How long has she been out, Mokuba?" Noa asked his younger brother, as he caressed Veronica close to his chest. He was worried, because the girl still hadn't woken up, and it had been thirty minutes since and Seto had arrived at the place where Skye had dropped the two off.
"It's been alm ost two hours. Noa, he cut her really badly. Maybe she lost too much blood or something..." Mokuba was nestled beside his eldest brother. "Do you think she's still alive in her world?"
"She'd better be." Noa growled, as he held on to Veronica. "We have to get to my base. She needs a better place to rest the the middle of a desert."
"Right......well, take us there, Noa." Seto replied.
"If I could do it in a snap, I would've by now." Noa told him. "I'm really not as strong here as I was before. My father has control of almost everything." Noa admitted silently that Veronica could've probably gotten them there, but it would've made no difference, since she was out cold. "We'll have to summon Skye to take us."
"But who's going to take care of Ronnie?" Mokuba asked worriedly. "She can't hold on to Skye."
"I'll worry about Veronica." Noa told him, as he whistled long and low. "If we can get into the base, I can begin to reprogram everything. "
"Don't you think they might've already thought about that? They're probably there already." Seto remarked in annoyance.
"Then we'll have to fight our way in." Mokuba announced. "Veronica needs to get home, before she's stuck here for good. If she's feeling pain, then Gozabouro did something else. "
"I agree." Noa smiled, ruffling Mokuba's hair. "You're a good friend, Moku- chan ."
"I know." Mokuba replied. "I just don't want us to lose our number one fan." He added with smile. "She would fight for us, if it was an opposite situation."
"She would." Noa nodded. Just then, Skye appeared, and Mokuba climbed on.
"Take Veronica." Noa told Seto, as the tallest Kaiba followed. "I'll be right behind you guys."
"What in the world are you doing?" Seto demanded. "There's only one Blue Eyes for us to call!"
"I have to stall them from following, in case they are not there! Now just go."
"Be careful, Noa!" Mokuba called out, as Skye left at Noa's orders.
"Don't worry. Send Skye back once you three arrive." He called back, as he went to find the trapdoor he had hidden under the smoldering sand. With any luck, I can make them think we are still here in the desert. That would give us time to make a plan to get the Virtual Key back from my "father". Without it, Veronica's stuck here forever. He smiled, as his hand brushed across the metal latch that opened the trap door. Just get her there, Seto. Let me take care of the rest for now. He descended into the darkness.
Seto and Mokuba found their way to the fortress, and to their surprise, it was deserted. "We got lucky. " Seto remarked, as he got a grogg y Veronica down. "Are you okay, Veronica?"
"Where's Noa- sama ? Is he all right!?" Her eyes swept over Mokuba and Seto, who looked a bit roughed up. "He's not dead, is he??"
"No...not dead..he's causing a distraction,so we can begin reprogramming this thing." Mokuba explained. "Come on inside. He wants you to rest."
"Where is he?!" Veronica asked again, desperately. "Gozaoburo wanted him, not me!"
"He's back in the desert where Skye dropped us off. Now come on." Mokuba pulled the girl into the hatch that led into Noa's deserted base. "You need to rest."
"I'm through resting. " Veronica told him bravely. "I want to help Oniisan get rid of his father for good!"
"Don't be foolish. You can barely stand up, let alone fight." Seto told her, with a shake of his head. He couldn't help but admire her devotion to Noa though. "Now do yourself a favor and relax, while I get us online again." He nodded to Mokuba. "Why don't you both go watch some tv. I'm sure Noa has some sort of cartoon channel or something you will like."
Mokuba almost protested, feeling like he'd done nothing but baby sit Veronica so far, but he sighed in defeat. "Alright. We'll go." He led Veronica out of the control corridor, and down into Noa's den. "I swear, he thinks I can't do anything useful, but how many times have I saved his butt?" Mokuba hadn't been talking to anyone in particular, but Veronica giggled.
"Too many times." She told him. "I want to help Oniisan too."
"What is it with grown ups anyway? Noa and Seto treat me like a baby all the time! At least Marik knows I can take care of myself!"
"Marik....How is he?" Veronica asked.
"He's pretty good. He's got a lot on his plate right now. His past came back into the present , and is now living with him, as his sister."
Veronica wrinkled her nose, thinking about Yami Marik. "Yami Marik came back as a girl?"
Mokuba fell into a chair, laughing. "No no no....this girl he helped Shadi rescue one time. She's living in our world now. She's like you."
"Really? Is she a Kaiba fan?" Veronica couldn't imagine anything like what she was going through happening to someone else. It intrigued her.
"Well....yeah, but not so much as you are. She's more of an Ishtar/Roba fan." Mokuba smiled, thinking of Victoria Ishtar now. "If she was here though, I'm sure she probably would've really torn into my foster father by now. She's almost fearless."
Veronica giggled at this. "Wow. I wish I was half as brave as she sounds."
"What are you talking about? You are brave! You've been through a lot, and you still don't give up on helping. That's brave!" Mokuba flipped on the TV now. "What do you want to watch?"
"I don't know.....maybe I'll just sleep for now." Veronica curled up on the couch, and soon enough, she did fall asleep. Mokuba watched her silently, before changing the channel to the news. Poor Ronnie. It would be so easy to just ask Seto if she could live with us,wouldn't it? But she'd miss her own brother I'm sure. Mokuba sighed. I just hope her brother will treat her better. Then maybe she wouldn 't have runaway in the first place. Mokuba smiled now, glad his own brothers actually did care about the things he did, and wanted to be with him.