Chapter 16

Everybody began to wake up, many of them gasping for breath as they did so, but all of them were glad to be free of the nightmare that they had just encountered. There were hugs and tears almost all round as they all were so happy to see each other. Feeling secluded from the rest of them Marcus, Andrew and Zene sat in a group to one side of the room.

The Kaiba brothers had just finished showing their concerns about each other as Mokuba headed off towards Roland who was still by the door. Kaiba found himself alone for a split second before he was approached by Joey.

"Hey Kaiba!" Joey said as he approached.

"What is it Wheeler?" Kaiba replied wishing that Joey would leave him alone once more. At the same time he was also glad to see that he was alive and well.

"I ….. er …….." Joey shuttered as he wasn't sure what the best thing to say was. "…… just wanted to say thank you, for looking after my little sister. I know you'll probably say something like; 'I was only looking out for myself', but it really means a lot to me what you did back there."

Kaiba was just as much surprised about what Joey was saying as Joey himself was, and still he continued; "I guess you're not as big a jerk as I think you are."

"I'll take that as a compliment, you mutt." Kaiba replied with an amused smile on his face.

Joey just turned and walked away back to Serenity. "Same old Kaiba." he laughed to himself.

Kaiba glanced around the room and saw that there was one face missing and wondered where Emma was. As his eyes rested upon the three guests for the disastrous occasion he slowly began to make his way over to them.

"I just wanted to pay my thanks to you both." Kaiba spoke down to where Andrew and Zene sat; ignoring the fact that Marcus was there. He extended his hand to Andrew. "Without you my brother may not have made it as far as he did." Their hands broke apart and he offered it to Zene. "And without you …." he stopped not sure of the best way to say what he felt about her staying behind and comforting him.

"You don't have to say anything." Zene told him back as she wore a genuine smile. "I already know."

Kaiba smiled back and turned to leave them as he continued his search for Emma. He heard Marcus cough trying to get his attention after he had just blanked him. He turned and stared towards Marcus who glared back. He had no reason to thank him for anything, and didn't like the guy from the first moment he saw him.

"I almost forgot!" Kaiba said rather sarcastically. He re-approached them and leant closer to Marcus and in a stern voice told him; "Stop trying to be someone else and get your own life." before he left once again.

"I'm going to sue your ass off for this whole thing!" Marcus shouted angrily towards Kaiba.

"I'd like to see you try." Kaiba laughed and ignored the further abuse that Marcus yelled. As he was passing by the staircase that led to the control room Emma began to make her way down.

"Yay, you did it!" shouted quite a few people as Emma appeared.

"I guess congratulations are in order." Kaiba told her as she stepped down on to the floor. "It seems like there's nothing you can't do."

"There are lots of things that I can't do like; read a map, swim, spell ………" Emma began to joke but drifted off as she found herself drawn into an embrace by Kaiba which surprised her as the 'Geek Squad' were still around. She stared over his shoulder and saw everybody staring at them, and knew that Joey wouldn't be able to let this incident go unnoticed. "..but I don't have the time to list them all." she finished as they pulled apart and she blushed slightly.

Looking down at the floor, Emma wiped a tear from her eye. She was glad to be back in the real world and have all of her friends back but she wouldn't be able to forget about Noah. She looked back up at Kaiba and tried to hide her sadness with a smile. "I can't take all of the credit as a lot of it is thanks to Noah."

"Noah." Kaiba laughed to himself. "Where is the little punk? I guess I do owe him some thanks."

Emma dropped the smile on her face. "He deleted himself to destroy the programme." she told him sadly.

Kaiba remained silent as he thought about what Emma had said. "Please, not a word of this to Mokuba." He told her, and Emma nodded in agreement. He stepped aside to let Emma pass so that she could get her greetings from the rest of her friends.