Back at Ryo's after securing everything, they were all wiped out. Ryo took the phone into his room for privacy. He was thankful that the castle had several numbers that could be dialed to reach someone. One was a private line directly to the family room in the castle.
He dialed that one and nervously waited for someone to answer. Finally after what seemed like forever to Ryo but in reality about four rings, Mai picked up the phone.
"Draglor Castle, how may I help you?"
"Mai, it's Ryo. I really need to speak to Seto."
"All right, I'll see if he's available." Mai said, placing the phone down and going to Yami's room where Seto was.
Yami had regained consciousness for a short time before passing out again and that was several hours ago. Seto was still majorly concerned over his condition.
"My king, I hate to disturb you."
"What is it, Mai?"
"Well, Sir Ryo's on the phone. He wishes to speak with you."
Fearing something might be wrong with Mokuba he immediately got up. "Stay here."
"Yes, sir."
Seto ran to the phone and picked it up. "Ryo is everything all right, is Mokuba okay?"
Ryo sighed, he should have realized that his call would upset and worry him but he wasn't thinking. "I didn't mean to worry you, he's fine."
"Are you sure he's all right?"
Ryo realized he wasn't going to get to ask any questions till he spoke with the boy himself and was certain. Well he knew by the smell his mother was making lunch so he might as well get the boy up. "Hang on."
He leaned over and shook the boy awake. "Come on kiddo, time to get up." Learning of his sleepwalking incidents he made certain that he was awake. "Hey, come on kiddo Seto wants to talk to you."
Mokuba sat up and rubbed his eyes. Ryo held the phone up to him but made sure to cover the mouthpiece. "Seto wants to talk to you." He repeated unsure if the boy heard him the first time.
Mokuba brightened up immediately at that and took the phone from Ryo. "Hi, big brother!"
Seto sighed in relief hearing his small voice. He never thought just hearing his voice could make him feel so good. "How are you feeling?"
"B-Better, I'm okay big brother. Y-you d-don't have to worry about m-me."
"Well I do worry about you. I love you very much." Seto never liked expressing his feelings like saying I love you, especially over the phone. But since meeting Mokuba and then losing him he'd had to come out of it cause the boy needed to hear it. The boy had to hear the words. With Yami he didn't have too, usually. Their bond was usually strong enough that it didn't make a difference, cause they knew in their hearts how the other felt. He'd tried that with Mokuba, but obviously all the abuse he'd endured kept him from reading those signs. So he learned that he had to say the words so that he'd know and hopefully understand.
Mokuba smiled brightly, "I love you too, big brother!"
"Mokuba, say goodbye. I need to talk to Seto for a few minutes." Ryo said softly.
"Ryo w-wants to talk to you, see you s-soon, big brother. bye." Mokuba said.
"Bye kiddo, see you soon."
Mokuba handed Ryo the phone. "Mokuba, mom's in the kitchen making lunch. Why don't you go see if you can help?"
Mokuba's smile grew, "Okay!" he hopped out of bed and slipped into his shoes and ran into the kitchen.
"Seto…" Ryo asked, still afraid Seto hated him.
"Why did you call if everything's all right? You had me scared to death!"
"I'm sorry, but I felt I should call to ask you if I should go ahead and keep Mokuba till Monday or when I can or bring him back after lunch."
Seto had been with Yami all day reading or sleeping and hadn't heard any news reports. "What the hell do you mean or whenever?!"
Ryo realized then that Seto obviously hadn't heard the news and was taking his question to mean he was going to keep the boy away from him. "Calm down and I'll explain."
"You'd better damn well explain, I trusted you on your word that you wouldn't keep him past the weekend, was I wrong in my trust in you?"
Ryo knew this anger was more directed at the fact that Mokuba had lived with him for four months and Seto still hadn't gotten over his anger with him on it. "I'm taking this to mean you haven't listened to the radio." Ryo said and quickly pushed ahead to keep Seto from spotting any kind of insult or anything else at him. "My father told me that he'd heard on the radio that a big snowstorm that could possibly become a blizzard was heading this way. He always complains that the weather people can't predict anything. But from the way the animals are reacting and the fact that they received reports from other counties in the kingdom that they're experiencing it and the calls each seem to be indicating that the storm could possibly be here soon."
"I see, so there's a storm brewing, why does that affect your keeping Mokuba for the weekend?"
"Well I wasn't sure if the storm got real bad there's no telling how long it'll last. I'd be afraid to take Mokuba out in it. Even if we could make it back the poor kid would be frozen by the time we got back."
"I see your point. So what do we do about it?"
"Well I was wanting to see if you think he should come home and visit another time or keep him till the storm passes?"
"He'd just be bored here and would just wonder if you were just trying to get rid of him. I don't like it, but if the storm hits and it lasts past Monday and you don't feel it is safe to travel and keep Mokuba safe and unfrozen, then wait till you can, but make sure he calls me and tells me!"
Ryo caught that loud and clear. "I promise I will do everything I can to make sure I get him home Monday and if not, the first thing he does in the morning is call you and he'll call again when I feel it's safe to come back."
"You do that. I don't want one scratch on that kid's head, you hear me?"
"I understand Seto, I promise I will bring him back the same way I took him."
"Good, see that you do!" Seto said and hung up.
Ryo sighed, he really wished he could regain Seto's trust again, but he knew that wasn't going to be an easy task.