Never Enough

Never Enough

Joey Wer ser sighed as the sun set on the streets of Domino city, highlighting the silhouette of his walking form on the graffiti-littered walls that lined the poor side of town. His eyes shifted nervously as his thoughts raced; he hadn't really ever been in a situation as bad as this was...

He was fired. That's right; fired. His part-time job, the only stupid thing that kept his sorry life as together as it could possibly be, was gone. They didn't even give him his check! Apparently the auto shop didn't need anybody who had to miss months for dueling tournaments. But wasn't he excused for stuff like that...?

'Obviously not...', he thought to himself bitterly.

Honestly, Joey didn't really care for work, but he'd had to keep up with the financial burden of his father's alcohol addiction ever since he'd been in junior high... his father didn't work, and wasted whatever money that was given to him by the government on booze, leaving Joey to pay the bills. Dad wasn't gonna be happy when he found out...at all.

Now, Joey had been wandering the crummy streets for several hours, debating whether or not he should dare to set foot into the hell hole he called 'home'. He would have to tell his dad what happened eventually, but would he get beaten worse if he let him find out some other way, or told him himself?

'Hmmm...decisions, decisions...'

On top of everything, he was late. Even though he didn't do anything when he got home, his dad could never accept it when he arrived at the apartment any later than six. Now it was seven-thirty, he was miles away from home, and it would take him at least an hour to get back on his way to the apartment.

'I guess I might as well head back...and whatever happens...happens.'

*****

It was nine o'clock. Exhausted, Joey made his way around the last corner of his journey and finally found himself facing his apartment building. He had never been so relieved and so horrified to see it at the same time. Oh well...hey, maybe the old man wouldn't be there at all. Now that would be a nice change in his luck. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad... However, when he was about to set his foot on the first flight of stairs, fear gripped him once again, and he found himself unable to make himself go up.

'...Why should I have 'ta do this...? Why should I have 'ta face 'dis hell every day?!'

And then he remembered, for the millionth time.

'Serenity...'

If he got thrown into the system, he'd never see her again, not for years, and he knew it....

'Alright, Joey, be a man and face 'im... it'll probably be over in a couple minutes....'

But once he reached the top of the steps, nothing he told himself could keep his hand from trembling as he reached for the door handle...

*****

................


Joey took a deep breath as he slowly opened the door, wincing as the door's rusty hinges squeaked louder then he intended.

Kent Wheeler's head jerked up at the noise, having fallen asleep during his drunken stupor. He then noticed the tall, slender form of his son meekly closing the front door through his blurred vision. He suddenly snapped awake.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, BOY?!"

Joey backed up slowly and his eyes widened in fear as his father advanced angrily toward the corner he had backed into, his eyes blazing with rage, and an empty beer bottle raised over his head.

"Dad, please- don't...!"

Joey yelled out in painful surprise as his father conked him over the head with the bottle, smashing the end into pieces, which flew across the floor. Joey felt himself being grabbed at the neck and thrown painfully into the wall; he groaned and sank to the ground. Kent picked him up again and punched him hard across the face; then again, and again.

"Stop...", Joey weakly managed to get out.

His father smiled menacingly, and picked up the broken bottle again. Joey stared at it, wondering what on earth he was planning on doing with it....

...He wouldn't...!

'No! Please...!'

Joey watched in horror as his father drove the jagged end of the bottle into the middle of his torso, twisted it, and ripped it out viciously. He screamed in agony as the pain engulfed his entire body, and crumpled into a ball on the floor. His dad then repeatedly kicked him where he had been stabbed for several minutes, making Joey howl in pain. Then suddenly, he stopped, and retreated back to his spot on the couch, falling asleep instantly.

Joey felt the blood rushing up his throat immediately, and coughed it out violently as it threatened to choke him. He slowly rolled onto his back, trying to block out the pain and gather himself back together.
'He's never been that bad before...definitely not the time to mention my job...'

He forced himself to stand up, hissing in pain as his ribs screamed in protest. Joey hobbled over to the bathroom, where he carefully peeled off his bloody shirt, and examined himself in the mirror (which was cracked from an incident several weeks before...).

'Ugh...man, I look like crap...'

Joey certainly was a mess. His face had several large bruises along his jaw, eyes, and cheek. His eyes were bloodshot, there was a horrible gash over his temple from being hit with the bottle, and his neck had bruises all over it that were made by his father's hands. Worst of all was his entire mid-section. His bleeding abdomen was mutilated by the gruesome stab with the broken bottle; there were countless pieces of glass stuck in his skin. There clearly were several broken ribs. Also, although the blood covered everything, he could tell that there were some ghastly bruises forming around the entire area because of the brutal kicking that he had received from his dad. This would be a tough one to explain to his friends at school. What would he say? He ran into a wall...? Eh, he'd think about it later...his head hurt too much to think...heck, everything hurt! He ignored the wave of nausea that overtook him at that moment; he was weak enough already. Not to mention he didn't get enough food as it was, he was always hungry... throwing up what little he had would just lead him to starvation.

Joey then began the grueling task of cleaning and bandaging his wounds. Nothing he did would be much help, however. Broken ribs couldn't soothed by any bandage, and neither could a stab wound. That stab was causing Joey to bleed profusely; he wasn't sure if he was really losing that much or not (he was). He just knew that he felt really, really weak. The pain had made him numb, and he eventually gave up on wrapping the wounds because he really had no energy left. Lying on the bathroom floor, Joey let the darkness overtake him.

***

Joey awoke several hours later, his entire body screaming at him by sending jolts of pain to every inch of him. He groaned, then noticed that it was still dark outside. Suddenly he remembered where he was, and sat upright, ignoring the pain this caused. He stopped himself from yelling in horror at the sight that greeted his eyes: the entire bathroom was littered with blood; his blood. No wonder he had fainted...well, not that he felt much better now, but he knew that his dad would go mad if he saw this, so Joey grudgingly dragged himself onto his knees, took some towels, and painstakingly wiped all of the blood away from the floor. His movement had caused the wound to reopen and start bleeding again, however, but as long as it stayed away from the floor, he knew his dad could care less. Finally, the bathroom was free of any evidence of the night before. Exhausted, Joey gathered up his last ounce of energy to get to his room. Glancing at his clock, he mentally warned himself that he would only get three hours of sleep. He then collapsed onto his bed.

***
Joey was abruptly awakened by the horrifying noise that was his alarm clock.

No.

It was six already...? But...it couldn't be, could it? He literally felt as if he had closed his eyes two seconds ago. He couldn't be expected to get up... he felt as if he had been hit by a Mack truck, then ran over by it fifty times. Not to mention he had -no- energy. It was preposterous to even suggest that he would have to stand up...! And just to think of walking to school?! No.

But, alas....yes.

Joey regretfully attempted to stand up, only to immediately double over in the agony that it caused him. He couldn't do it.

'I *have* to...'
He was right. He had to. If only he had someone there to help him...this would have been a lot easier. He couldn't even look forward to receiving help from his friends once he got to school. No, he couldn't show them he was hurt...he would play it off, somehow...

Well, he'd worry about that later. Right now he couldn't even stand up. He had to be out of the house soon, though. If he let his dad wake up and find him still there, it'd be hell to pay. So Joey gritted his teeth, took a (very) deep breath, and heaved himself off of the floor so that he was half-standing, half-leaning-on-the-wall. He stood still for a minute to let the pain subside, then forced himself to find his balance and focus his energy on slowly pacing around the room. Once he succeeded, he grabbed his jacket and staggered out of his room. Luckily, his dad was still sleeping, so Joey was able to slowly make his way out of the house. When he made it outside, he promptly crumbled to his knees, his chest heaving with exhaustion.

'Looks like 'dis is gonna be harder 'den I thought...'

Joey sighed as he thought about whether or not he could make it to the school...it was only three miles awbut but this was a mammoth task for someone in his current condition. He was really feeling the effects of all that blood loss... Oh, well.....anything was better then staying at home. Gathering up his endurance, Joey picked himself up off the floor and began his painful and stressful journey to school.

***

'Only...one...block...left...!'

Even though he felt like he was going to explode, Joey continued to drag himself toward the school, which was only a block away now. His entire body ached and burned; hiomacomach felt as if a thousand daggers were dug into it, and his vision was so hazy that he nearly couldn't see at all. Also, his energy was totally drained; it was a wonder that he hadn't fainted already, although he had collapsed several times...everything just totally sucked.

Eventually, the small school finally appeared on the horizon, much to Joey's relief. Once he reached the entrance, Joey stood for several minutes in an attempt to regain his composure and look somewhat normal. However, no matter how tightly his jacket was wrapped around him, nor how low his bangs were covering his face, there was no way he could hide all of the lacerations on his face and neck, the bloodstains on his clothes, the sickly gray paleness of his face and unsettling redness of his eyes, or the way he staggered around and hissed in pain whenever he tried to walk. Yup, Joey definitely looked a fright. Oh, well...there was nothing he could do about it, so the best thing he could do was suck it up and handle problems as they came...if he didn't, he would go insane. So, trying to forget everything that was rushing through his weary mind, Joey pulled himself together the best that he could and stepped into the halls of Domino High.


*****

Much to Joey's relief, the hallway was empty, and there were no students in sight. Of course, this was no surprise, granted he was half an hour late to his first class (usually he was half an hour early. Bef Before he headed to his class, however, Joey took a quick detour to the bathroom. He wanted to see exactly how bad he was going to look when he walked into that classroom...

Joey glanced into the mirror while supporting himself on the sink. He kind of wished he hadn't, though, because he looked as if he just came back from spending a day in hell.

'Dang it...if I could at least get a clean shirt, it wouldn't be so bad...'

His t-shirt was covered with blood, and was torn in places. His school jacket was clean, though, so if he wrapped it around himself in just the right way, he could hide it....he still looked like crap, though.

Nevertheless, Joey was determined to appear as inconspicuous as possible, so he took a wet paper towel with hand soap on it and cleaned his face and neck the best he could. He then combed his hair with his fingers so that it still lay low on his face, but looked much more presentable. Looking himself over once more in the mirror, Joey was relieved to find that he looked nearly decent now. The one thing that was a big problem was that his stab wound, due to his constant mobility, had never been able to close properly and was still spurting out blood every now and then. No one would be able to tell, but it scared Joey... if he didn't stop bleeding, he might faint in the middle of class, and they would surely send him to the hospital; then they'd have to notify his dad...and he didn't even want to imagine what would happen then.

It was a chance he was just going to have to take.


*****


Seto Kaiba stared blankly through the instructor's head, seemingly paying attention as he sat, perched on his seat, looking studious as ever.

On the contrary, behind those cerulean orbs that seemed as if they could glare into one's soul, the young CEO's mind was racing... he was worried. The pup hadn't shown up to class yet, and every time that happened.... well, it never proved to be a good thing. So for forty-five long and torturous minutes, Seto had glared at the door of the classroom...but with every minute that passed, his hope diminished a bit more.

'Come on, Joey...where are you...?'

Seto longingly glanced at the door again, silently praying that Joey would walk through it soon. He couldn't take this much longer.

As if on cue, the entire class looked up as a muffled click was heard in the back of the room, and the door creaked open. Thirty pairs of eyes stared, waiting for the unknown person to step into the classroom...and thirty mouths gasped at the forlorn sight that greeted them.

Seto couldn't keep his mouth from dropping open when Joey walked in... there he was, his puppy, and in what a state he was...! Though his head was bowed and face partially hidden by his bangs, onuld uld easily see the ghastly bruises that marred his otherwise flawless skin. He had his arms flung awkwardly around himself; it appeared as if he was trying to keep his jacket closed. Seto also noticed little pieces of glass in his abnormally sticky-looking hair.

Joey seemed to pay no attention to the curious stares he was receiving as he began hobbling over to his desk, his gait unstable and clearly painstaking.

As Joey passed by his desk, Seto heard his breath coming out in labored, ragged gasps. He decided not to deride him with a snide remark, not wanting to make Joey exert himself, as he was obviously having enough trouble simply walking across the room. Once he had finally sat down, Joey was relieved to find that everyone had returned their interest to the front of the room, all except for Yugi, who was staring at him with big, worried, questioning eyes.

'Here we go...', thought Joey sarcastically. It was time to put on the mask again...

Joey quickly plastered a fake reassuring smile on his face, breathing a shaky sigh of relief when Yugi grinned back and turned around.


***

The class ended quickly after Joey arrived (there were only ten minutes left, anyway), and the students all shot up from their desks and disappeared into the hallway once the bell rang. Of course, Yugi ran straight to Joey's desk, who was i hur hurry to get up. Seto, eager to listen to what Joey had to say, pretended to take his time packing up his things and stayed at his seat.

Joey hesitantly looked up, knowing full well that it was Yugi's distraught face that would greet him when he did. Of course, he was right.

"Joey, what happened to you?! I was so worried, and you didn't come in, and all I could think was that something was wrong, and...and then you didn't come and I was so worried, and...and-"

"Hey...Yug, calm down, it's okay...no big....jus' got into a little brawl, 'dat's all..."

"...Another fight...?"

"Don't worry 'bout me, Yug, you know I'm always gettin' inta trouble...it's just a few scrapes, I'll get over it."

Joey looked at Yugi again, relieved to see that he had obviously bought it, and was smiling innocently at him as he usually did.

"Well, as long as you're okay, Joey...but try to stop getting into fights, it's not nice!", Yugi scolded.

Joey chuckled to himself at Yugi's naivety, and sighed inwardly with relief when Yugi turned around and left the room. ...However, his relief was short-lived, as he then noticed none other than Kaiba strutting towards his desk.

"Well, well, well- what have we here? Looks like the mutt's gotten into another dog fight..."

'Ooh...I swear, if I could, I'd punch his lily-white face in so hard...!'

"Eh, shut up Kaiba...."

"What are you doing here, Wheeler...? You're obviously in no condition to be in class... but of course a stupid dog like you isn't smart enough to see that."

Joey struggled to stand, finally heaving himself onto his feet after several lame attempts. Kaiba smirked.

"Can't even stand up...pathetic."

Joey growled at Kaiba, his brown eyes flaming with fury and shame.

"You stay out of my way, you hear 'dat, Kaiba! Y'aint got no business poking at me an' my problems! An' I'm perfectly able ta be in school!", yelled Joey angrily at Seto.

"Hmmph. I wouldn't be so sure about that, Wheeler, but if you're really that stupid, then be my guest."

With that last remark, Seto gave Joey one final smirk and retreated into the hallway, leaving him alone in the classroom. Fuming, Joey angrily staggered out the door, after making sure that the hallway was empty. It would be so humiliating for Joey to have to hobble around with others watching...

Luckily, he made it to his next class, Web Site Design, without any strange looks or awkward questions. Web Site Design, in Joey's opinion, was one of the most boring courses he had ever taken. It was difficult enough for him to use a computer; there was no way he would ever understand any of that 'HTML-mumbo-jumbo'... the only reason he took the course was so that he could use email, which otherwise he had no access to, having no computer at home. Heck, they didn't even have a properly functioning television set!

It was a rather large class, so no one really noticed when Joey slowly made his way to his computer, their eyes all being glued to their screens. Cautiously sitting down in the swiveling office chair, Joey mumbled an annoyed curse when the stupid chair kept spinning around. He hated sitting in these stupid things....

Once he had regained his balance and was comfortably settled into the chair, Joey turned his attention to the glowing monitor before him. Clicking on the 'Internet Explorer' button, he waited for the display to load and logged in to msn.com to check his email, as he did everyday.

He wasn't supposed to be doing this of course, as it had nothing to do with Web Site Design, but the class instructor didn't really...instruct. They had been handed large manuals in the beginning of the year and were told to follow it day by day, but naturally, no less-than-superior student would actually do this after being given such freedom. Most of them spent the class in chat rooms and message boards, downloading music, reading fanfiction (A/N: that's me! ^_^), checking email, and doing other things that were unrelated to the class assignment. Joey, of course, was no exception. He could afford to fail one class, anyway.

Contrary to what many of his peers believed, Joey wasn't dumb. He absorbed information well, so when he didn't study (which was usually the case), he could still pass tests. This made it possible for him to breeze through classes without doing any homework or projects, because while he failed those, his high test scores allowed him to make it out of most classes with B's and C's.

Joey was grateful for his 'ability', because it kept his report card from looking too disgraceful. He always had to keep his grades in passing range, as his dad never failed to get his hands on Joey's grade reports...and when the marks weren't good....well, the result was even worse.

Joey's eyes lit up whensaw saw that he had 2 new messages. He hastily read the first without seeing who it was from.

"...'10 Stupid Things to Do in an Elevator'? What the hell...?"

It was another one of those goofy things that Tristan constantly sent him. Joey hesitantly read through the list, grimacing at its sheer stupidity. It wasn't even funny....dumb ol' Tristan...

He quickly proceeded to his next message, reading it immediately after it appeared on the screen, his eyes widening at the message:

I LOVE YOU, JOEY WHEELER

'What? ...It's that person again
I
It wasn't the first time he had received a baffling, nearly cryptic message like this. Nearly everyday of the entire school year he got one, each saying 'I LOVE YOU, JOEY WHEELER', or simply 'I LOVE YOU', or some similar, short declaration. It really bothered him that he had no idea who was sending them. The email of the person was 'aNOnymOUs'. That certainly narrowed it down...

Well, Joey being the giddy schoolboy that he was, (::cough::) he had his ideas regarding the person's identity... While he knew it was hopeless, he dreamed that it could be....Mai.

(A/N: I can almost hear half of the readers squealing in delight and half of them growling in frustration...heh)

Yes, Joey Wheeler was in love with Mai Valentine...madly in love with her. He'd already risked his life for her several times, in fact. He'd do anything for her... his friends kind of had an idea of his feelings, especially Téa, being a girl. (A/N: Watch episode 143! Yes, she is good for something! ::shocked gasps heard in background::)

While he really had no idea if she felt the same way, he didn't honestly think the emails were from her... it wasn't her style. But just to think of it... Joey blushed at the thought. His life had gotten pretty rough after the Battle City tournament had ended, but thinking of her always worked to bring a smile to his face, or at least give him hope... he really hoped he'd see her again soon. When the tournament ended, she left so suddenly.... Joey made a mental note to try and call her, or something...

His wistful daydreaming was rudely cut short by the shrill bell that signaled the end of that class. Joey sighed, painstakingly pushing himself into a standing position once more. He stood there for several minutes, supporting himself on the table, as the last group of students left the room. Pulling himself together for the millionth time that day, he grudgingly removed his weight from the table and resumed to the agonizing shuffle that he had adopted for the time being.

Unfortunately, Joey couldn't avoid being seen by anyone in this hallway, so he had to freeze in place and paste a goofy grin on his face whenever someone noticed him when they passed by his trudging form.

Although his attitude would never reveal it, Joey was physically feeling even more terrible than he had felt earlier. As if matters couldn't get any worse, he was beginning to feel really sick...

Making another detour into the bathroom (which he was glad to find, was empty), Joey glanced in the mirror. Sure enough, his skin, usually a healthy tan color, was now freakishly pale; his eyes, although they were no longer bloodshot, now seemed hollow and deep-set in his face. He was also sweating... Joey noted these things with nervousness, but immediately diverted his attention when the nauseous feeling from the night before returned to him with strong force. Joey sprinted into the nearest stall, not bothering to close the door, and nearly vomited himself inside-out, heaving and retching over the toilet. When it was finally over, he flew into a coughing fit, and was horrified to find that he was spurting out blood.

'Ugh.....I can't take this much more......what the heck is wrong with me....? ...So tired...'
Joey promptly collapsed onto the bathroom floor. After laying there for several blissful moments, he reached up, locking the stall door, and eased himself into a sitting position against the wall. Too exhausted to move, he stayed there until lunch began...

***


"Hey, guys...", Joey managed weakly with another fake grin, trying his best to appear energetic. His friends, Yugi, Tristan, and Téa, looked up to see a very tired-looking Joey standing behind them were they sat at their table. He made his way around, and sat down in front of them.

"Hey, Joey...uh, you don't look so good, man.", Tristan observed.

Téa frowned at Joey, obviously agitated.

"You look terrible, Joey! How could you let yourself get into this condition?! You should go to the nurse's office right now! I'm your friend, and friends look out for each other! Friends don't let each other do stupid things! Can't you see that you're worrying your friends?!"

(A/N: DIE, Téa, DIE!!! Ahem...)

Joey looked at the wide-eyed Téa, forcing himself to laugh, despite how horrible this made him feel.

"Relax, Téa, ya got nothin' ta worry about...I don't need no nurse...an' you guys gotta chill out...", Joey retorted, unconvincingly. Yugi noticed his tension and decided to cover for him.

"It's okay, guys, really...Joey got into another fight. ...But Joey, please try to stop worrying us, okay...?" Yugi winked at Joey, then gave him a look that said 'don't do it again'.

'Thanks, Yug....'

Joey grinned.

"Yup, I promise!"

Téa 'hmmphed', and everyone returned their gazes back to their lunches. Joey stared longingly at the food, trying to ignore the pangs of hunger that had been tormenting him all day, and were much worse now that he had thrown up whatever had been in his stomach. ...He hadn't eaten anything in two days, thanks to his desperate financial situation and his father's neglect. He was so hungry...

'Well, thinking about it sure won't make it 'betta, Joe...', he silently reprimanded himself.

Joey sighed as lunch ended and his friends all got up from the table and left the cafeteria. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he pushed himself to stand up, and began making his way back to the bathroom.
***
The final bell of the school day rang at last; Joey silently and carefully made his way down the school's front steps after spending several hours in the bathroom, waiting for the day to end.

He was so weary... never before had he felt so weak. It was all beginning to become too overwhelming... the pain of his bruises and wounds, his great fatigue, the lack of energy and balance due to his blood loss, the emotional stress, the unbearable hunger, the deep nauseous feeling that never seemed to go away...it was too much, and he simply couldn't take it. Any normal person would have broken down long ago, but Joey...he wasn't your average person....no, Joey was a fighter.

But even someone with that type of spirit can't go on forever. No one's invincible... and unfortunately for Joey, this fact became all too clear when suddenly, as he rounded the corner into the school's lonely courtyard, an overwhelming pain gripped his entire body without warning. The white-hot pulses of agony caused him to collapse, as he choked on the blood that was rushing up his throat, trying to cough it out. Joey felt himself giving in, as his entire world became the darkness.


***


Seto strolled out of the school, making his way to the other side of it, where he knew his limousine would be waiting. He couldn't help but wonder about what had happened to Joey, who had disappeared after that first class...Seto had been worried all day.

His mind continue to wander as he made his way around the school. He had always liked taking the long way through the courtyard, as its flower bushes and neat, green grassy knolls provided nice scenery in his mostly dreary day. He stopped for a moment, letting his nostrils take in the sweet perfume of the new blooms, as his eyes traveled across the courtyard, absorbing the simple beauty.

Then he stopped, as his eyes caught something unusual....a body....! There was a crumpled form of a person lying in the corner of the courtyard, in a small pool of blood.. Seto's blue eyes widened as he ran to the figure, apprehensive as to what he would find. Kneeling down, entlently nudged the person's shoulder. Nothing. Looking over the scene, Seto noticed the vibrant golden blonde hair that belonged to the body, and gasped in realization.

"...Oh my God...!", he nearly shouted, and quickly turned the person over. It was his puppy.

"Joey!"

Seto felt his heart nearly ramming itself out of his body as he rushed to check for a pulse. He sighed with great relief when he found one, but frowned when he noticed how shallow Joey's breathing was. He reached down to touch his skin again, and noticed that it was burning hot.

"Damn...!"

Scooping Joey's limp body into his arms, Seto ran to where his limo was waiting. Forcing the car door open and jumping into the backseat, he yelled at his driver to take him to his mansion as quickly as possible, and the limousine immediately took off and disappeared down the street.

Seto stormed into the Kaiba Mansion, carrying an unconscious Joey in his arms as he frantically yelled at one of his confused-looking servants to prepare a guestroom immediately.

"Yes, sir-", the young maid began.

"Go!", shouted Kaiba angrily. The girl let out an 'eep!' and quickly disappeared into one of the house's many corridors. Seto returned his attentto Jto Joey, setting him down on a nearby couch,
and ripping his cell phone from his pocket. He then anxiously called the family doctor, ordering him to come to the mansion. He didn't care if he didn't make house calls; that day he would.

'God, I hate doctors...'

Just as he finished arguing with the doctor, who eventually gave in after being offered something in return, Seto was notified by the same nervous maid that the guestroom was ready. She told him which one it was and promptly scurried out of the room again.

'Hmmm....that was fast. I guess I won't fire her after all...', Seto noted to himself.

Seto removed Joey, who was still out like a light, from his place on the couch and carried him to the luxurious guestroom. The room, like every other room in the mansion, looked like it could have belonged to a king. Seto loved color schemes as they looked very neat and sophisticated; this room was done in a deep emerald green, with gold accents everywhere. It was quite evident that Seto Kaiba haney ney to burn (which he had actually done once).

Carefully placing Joey on the silken sheets of the large bed, he took a seat next to him and listened to his labored breathing apprehensively. Seto did this for about ten minutes until he heard footsteps approaching the room, most likely belonging to the doctor.

The door to the room opened, revealing the physician, clearly exhausted from his rush to arrive at the mansion. The old man made his way to the side of the bed, placing his bag down, and looked at Seto questioningly.

"So, what is the problem, Mr. Kaiba...?", asked the doctor.

Seto smirked.

"You're the doctor; you tell me what the problem is."

'Idiot...'

The doctor nodded nervously and prded ded to carefully remove Joey's jacket. When it was off, the bloodied and torn shirt underneath was finally visible. Seto's eyes widened when he saw it, and wondered in amazement how on earth Joey was able to get around with such a hindrance. The doctor then went on to cut the shirt off with a scissors, not wanting to harm Joey anymore by moving him, and tossed the shredded, bloody piece of cloth aside. Seto couldn't help eyeing it in disgust.

Glancing back at Joey, he was rendered speechless when he saw the damage. Joey's entire torso could only be described with one word: mutilated. Whatever piece of skin that wasn't torn, embedded with a shard of glass, or gone, was bruised. This fact didn't even begin to describe the massive, blood-caked, and frankly repulsive wound in the middle of his body. The doctor overlooked everything with an unsure expression on his face.

"Mr. Kaiba...I must say, this is...quite serious.", said the old man, sympathetically.

Seto didn't appear to listen, his mouth agape as he stared listlessly at Joey's battered body. Not wanting to see anymore, he jerked his eyes away from the gruesome sight as he rose from his seat and left the room without a word.

Seto's mind was a jumble of incoherent thoughts as he returned to mansion's parlor and began pacing around the room apprehensively. However, he had not even been there for five minutes when he saw the doctor exit the guestroom. Seto scowled at this.

'What the HELL is he doing out of that room...?', he thought angrily to himself.

The old man sensed Seto's disapproval and meekly made his way to face him.

"Mr. Kaiba....I'm afraid there's not really anything that can help him here, he needs...other things, and nothing I have will suffice...he needs a blood transfusion urgently, and probably will have to undergo surgery... frankly, the boy will die if he's not taken to a hospital immediately."

Seto's body tensed at the last statement; he really hadn't wanted Joey put in the hospi..he..he wanted him there, in his house...but the thought of losing him was just too much, so Seto regretfully but firmly made his decision, and looked at the doctor squarely in the eyes with his best 'look' possible.

"I want you to listen -very- carefully. One: Joey will not die. Two: He will be back here by tomorrow morning. If you have to bring the hospital back with you in order to do that, then you will. Three: He will -not- wake up in that hospital. Sedate him if you have to. You will be the one responsible to make sure that each of my wishes are granted. If not, you can kiss your medical career goodbye, am I clearly understood?" He didn't bother to watch the doctors answer as he grabbed a thick wad of one-hundred dollar bills from his pocket and pressed it into the hand of the physician, who took it and promptly made his way back to Joey's room. Seto watched as he was taken and placed in the limo with the help of several servants. The the then sped away after the doctor had gotten in, leaving Seto alone again.

'Maybe I should have gone with them...no, that stupid doctor knows his life is on the line as well...'

Seto decided to try and not think about Joey until he was safely in the mansion again. However, this proved to be a herculean task. He attempted to distract himself at first by playing with Mokubho hho had arrived at school a while earlier and was clueless about the situation. It didn't help much, though, as his mind kept wandering back to Joey and how helpless he was at that the current time...

Once several hours had passed, Seto figured it wasn't too early to go to sleep, which he desperately wanted to do already, because he knew that when he woke up, Joey would be there. Seto forced himself not to call the hospital, telling himself that if there were a problem, they would call him. Leaving his cell phone on and placing it next to him on his bed, Seto lay down on the comfortable sheets and fell into a fitful sleep.


.......


Eight hours later, Seto woke up, annoyed to find that it was only five o'clock in the morning and that Joey hadn't arrived yet. Worried beyond reason, he knew that there was no way he would be able to make himself go back to sleep. He mentally kicked himself for not going to the hospital and for letting his arrogance get the best of him. What if something happened...? That stupid doctor wasn't God, he could never assure Joey's survival! Distraught and frustrated, Seto sat in a chair directly in front of a window facing the mansion's driveway, anxiously awaiting the limo's return.

However, about an hour later, it wasn't the limo that he saw entering the mansion's gates...it was an ambulance! Seto was seething when he noticed this, and wasted no time in calling the doctor's cell.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!", yelled Seto frantically. He could tell the doctor was nervous, and this made him even angrier.

"Err...well, Mr. Kaiba, it's just that the boy had to have surgery, as I suspected, but during the operation, I'm afraid he went into cardiac arrest, and-"

"What?!"
"-Yes, Mr. Kaiba. And according to your...orders, ...well, we had to bring him back anyway. But I didn't want to take any of the machinery away from him as he's recovering from surgery, you understand. So I had him brought over in the ambulance. ...Is this alright, Mr. Kaiba...?", asked exh exhausted old man, apprehensively.

Seto was feeling quite guilty for causing such a show of torturing the old physician and making him stay up all night, so while he wanted to growl back a rude answer, he stopped himself, and took a deep breath before replying.

".....Very well, old man....but tell me, please, how is he...? Will he be alright?", Seto asked, nervously waiting for an answer.

"I assure you, Mr. Kaiba, I am fairly sure that the young man will be fine. However, I must warn you, he had a ghastly fever when you brought him in, it was at 107 degrees....at the hospital they managed to lower it to 104. But I'm sure you know that it can go up just as soon as it went down, so be wary of it. Also, they found that he's terribly allergic to the painkillers, so I'm afraid you can only give him Aspirin and that sort...it won't help much, I won't lie to you..."

Kaiba was sick of listening to old man's jabbering...he just wanted to see Joey now. He was probably in the guestroom already.

"...Where is he?", Seto interrupted.

"...Err, well, I believe they're putting him in the guestroom righw...w..."

"And where are you...?"

"Oh, me..? Well, that would be...well, I'd suppose this is the parlor..."

Seto grimaced as the old man continued with his gibberish, and hung up on him. Making his way to the parlor, he was annoyed to find it empty. After some searching, he found the stugeezgeezer standing outside of Joey's room.

"Why, there you are, Mr. Kaiba! Well, I suppose I'll be on my way, be sure to call me if anything else comes up-"

"Wait. Here, for your troubles...", mumbled S sho shoving another wad of Benjamins into the physician's palm.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Kaiba. And I'm sure the lad will be just fine, just-"

"-Thank you, again. I'm sure one of my servants would be glad to show you to the door."

The physician nodded, and with a small wave, left the room. Seto sighed in exasperation as the old doctor finally made his way out of the mansion. At last, he was able to see Joey. Entering the guestroom as quietly as possible, Seto frowned when he saw him. He certainly didn't look fine... The stupid doctor had probably just been trying to appease him.
Poor Joey was surrounded by wires, tubes, and machines that Seto couldn't imagine the purpose of. Apparently he couldn't even breathe on his own, as there was a respirator pumping air into a monstrous tube that disappeared into Joey's throat. Annoying beeping noises filled the room, and the sound that the respirator made was just creepy.

The nurse that had stayed behind to monitor Joey walked into the room, and proceeded to put some new liquid into the IV that snaked its way around Joey's arm and into his hand.

"What's that?", questioned Seto.

The young nurse looked up at him as she finished her task.

"It's an antibiotic...for the fever.", she replied, strutting out of the room.

Seto had almost forgotten about that, and looked at Joey again. Sure enough, his face was chalk-white, and his cs wes were flushed. One of the machines' display monitors showed that his body temperature was at 103. The antibiotics seemed to be working...

Aside from the tubes, Seto also noticed a thick layer of gauze on Joey's torso, and a large bandage around his forehead.

'That must be what he was hiding with his bangs...', Seto noted, and continued to watch Joey's motionless form.

.....

After waiting three hours, Seto was thoroughly bored with staring at Joey's unconss bos body. It didn't look like he would be waking up soon, and the only notable change in his condition was that his fever was now at only 101, which was not even much of a threat.

Sighing deeply, Seto rose from his chair and left Joey alone, heading for his room, which was just down the hall from Joey's. Locking himself in, he took a seat at his desk and began working on his laptop, frustrated at the amount of work that had stacked up in less than a day...

........


It was the middle oe nie night, and the entire mansion was completely dark, save for the beams of moonlight that crept in through the house's magnificent windows and formed boxy designs across the elegant carpets. It was also very quiet. Everyone in the mansion, including Seto, had gone to sleep hours ago. However, it was now that Joey chose to awaken.

Slowly, he opened his brown eyes, but his vision was but a massive collage of hazy shapes. Not one organized thought had entered his mind yet, for that seemed pretty hazy too; he couldn't even think. However, he would never get a chance to, because, without warning, something slammed into him with a force greater than any speeding train, sending him flying into another world where no thoughts or feelings existed, except for one:

Pain.

Absolute, sheer pain- so thick it could be cut with a knife. He couldn't think, he couldn't feel, he couldn't even breathe- it was the strangest thing, as if he were choking and breathing at the same time. Whatever vision he had before became nothing but white, hot flashes of nothingness. It wasn't even the typical agony that came in overwhelming pulses, no; it was just there, a never-ending torture.

He tried to scream, cry out, yell, but nothing would come out. There was something there, something that wouldn't let him scream. All he could do was choke on the cries that couldn't get out. Joey wanted to die, immediately, now. It wouldn't end...he wanted everything to become black again...to go to that place where nothing felt good, but at least nothing felt bad, either! But even when he beckoned that darkness with all his willpower, it didn't come, and the pain didn't go.


......


Seto abruptly awoke to the sound of a strangled cry; it had sounded like it was from Joey's room, which was no surprise. Worried, he tiredly got up from his luxurious bed, and made his way into the hallway. As he proceeded to the guestroom, Seto frowned at the muffled moans that were emanating from the room. When he arrived, he found Joey staring straight up, his eyes glazed over and his face revealing that he was clearly in great pain. Seto hurriedly was at Joey's bedside.

Joey could see something brown looming over him, after a few moments he was able to make out blue eyes....it almost looked like.....?!

'...Kaiba...?'

"K...ghh...", he struggled, unable to say anything because of the massive breathing tube that was lodged in his throat. Seto shook his head.

"No, Joey...don't speak...", he attempted, but from the way Joey was staring dazedly, it looked as if he couldn't make out a word he said. Seto waited when he noticed that he was trying to say something else, amid another series of moans and whimpers.

"...Ih..huh...s.....", Joey managed to get out, despite his inability to process the majority of the incoherent thoughts that were racing through his aching head.

Seto looked at Joey questioningly.
"...'It hurts'...?", he asked, not really expecting an answer. He was pretty sure that he was right; by the looks of it, Joey wasn't thinking about anything else.

Well, that problem could easily be taken care of. He would simply call the nurse and order her to distribute some... Seto growled when he suddenly remembered the old doctor telling him that Joey was allergic to the strong painkillers at the hospital, and could only be given weak stuff. Seto actually felt sorry for Joey, and sympathy was not something he gave out regularly... He looked at him again, this time noticing that he was shivering, and glanced at the monitor to check his temperature.

'Shit.'

106. It was rising again... Seto quickly left the bedside and made his way to the nurse's guestroom. He wasted no time in waking her up and telling her to follow him to Joey's room. She was a little confused at first, having been sleeping deeply several seconds ago, but soon understood, and did as he told. In a heartbeat, they were at Joey's bedside. The nurse sighed when she saw his condition, then thought to herself for a moment, and turned to Seto.

"Well, sir, it's not unusual that a fever goes back up...but at this rate, it could lead to brain damage... if we don't want to happen, we'll have to bring it back down as soon as possible. I'll go get some more antibiotics...", with that last statement, she left the room. Seto waited, and observed as she returned and administered the drug. When she finished, he stopped her from leaving again.

"Excuse me...miss...., but is there any way he can be given something to numb the pain...?"

She glanced at Joey, sympathetically, then faced Seto again.

"...I'm sorry, sir, but I was clearly told that he couldn't receive any painkillers at all. I've given him the maximum dosage of Aspirin, but that's all I can do. However, those antibiotics tend to cause drowsiness, soll hll hopefully fall asleep.", she reasoned, leaving the room.

'Fall asleep? Oh, I can imagine that. 'Gee, agony sure is tiring, I think I'll take a nap'', Seto thought to himself sarcastically.

Flustered and annoyed, Seto went to watch Joey again. He didn't like seeing him in such torment... he was tempted to do him a favor and conk him over the head to put him out of his misery, but figured that probably wasn't the best idea, considering that Joey was already on the verge of brain damage. He looked up, suddenly, startled when the nurse appeared back in the room.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that we can get rid of the respirator, now that he's awake.", with this, she made her way to Joey's side again, and proceeded to carefully dislodge the tube that ran down his throat. However, cautious as she was, it was clear that it was very uncomfortable for Joey, as he was struggling to protest, although only he could only manage to produce strange and incomprehensible sounds. When it was finally out, and the annoying pumping, airy noise of the respirator was finally gone, Seto watched awkwardly as Joey gasped for air as if he had forgotten how to breathe. This was actually not far from the truth, as he had become accustomed to the machine doing it for him. After several minutes, however, he seemed fine, and had resumed to his trance-like state, moaning and shivering again.

Taking a seat by the bed, Seto began the frustrating process of watching Joey.
...

It looked as if Seto would have to skip school that day. He didn't care, really. He thought about how worried Joey's stupid friends would be when they discovered him missing. Well, he wasn't really missing....he was just 'not there'. Seto chuckled at the thoughts of their distraught faces. Well, they had nothing to worry about. Joey would be just fine, it was just a matter of time.

...

After four long hours, Joey's fever had gone down to 100, thankfully. Seto was determined not to let it go up, and decided not to leave him alone again, as he had stupidly done last night.

Joey was now able to think straight, although his body still hurt terribly and he was really drowsy. He was also really confused. Unable to continue feeling so disoriented, Joey finally spoke up, although it paihim him to do so.

"...K-Kaiba...?"

Seto looked up from his laptop, relieved that Joey was finally speaking.

"Yes, Joey...?"

Joey was confused as to why Kaiba was calling him by his first name, but was too tired to waste his voice asking about it.

"....Where...am I...?", he asked, dying to know where he was.

"You're in my mansion. I found you and took you in. You're going to be fine. That's all you need to know.", retorted Seto.

"...What...day is it...?", Joey questioned, taking deep breaths as he struggled to speak.

"...It's Tuesday afternoon.", Seto answered. Joey thought for a moment, his eyes widening in realization.

'Tuesday afternoon?! Aaw, crap...! Dad's gonna kill me....what am I gonna do...? I gotta get outta here...!'

Without warning, Joey suddenly flew into a sitting position, then fell back down onto the bed as quickly as he'd gone up, screaming in agony. Seto's eyes widened as he set his laptop aside and got up to help Joey, who was still writhing.

"Wheeler, you dimwit! Don't you realize the trauma you've sustained...? ....Keep still, dammit!", yelled Seto angrily, as Joey finally stop wriggling, and resorted to moaning again.

Seto sighed deeply, and watched as Joey continued whimpering as he clutched the sheets tightly, his knuckles becoming white.

"...Look, mutt...I'm sorry you have to go through it this way, but you're allergic to the painkillers, and there's nothing else we can give you."

Joey remained silent, and Seto felt a pang of sympathy for him as he watched a tear escape through the corner of one of his tightly shut eyes. Although he would never admit it, it was very harr Ser Seto to watch Joey suffer like this. See, Seto had...feelings for him.

It was true.

The Great Seto Kaiba had a crush....on Joey Wheeler. It was nearly an obsession, actually. He wanted Joey to be his, and no one else's... but he couldn't bring himself to confront him. The thought of rejection was just too overwhelming.

Well, he had other things to worry about...he needed to discover who the hell did this to his puppy.

"Joey...", Seto began, "I know it hurts you to talk to me, but...you need to tell me who did this to you.", said Seto, not surprised when Joey immediately shook his head vigorously.

"...No..."

"Joey....I could call the police. Then they could tell me." He watched as Joey's eyes opened slowly, then looked at him with contempt. He then shut them again, and gritted his teeth.

"...I...c-can't...."

"Why not?"

"....I...I....j-just...can't, 'dat's...why....", Joey managed painstakingly.

"Tell me!"

"He'd k-kill me!", Joey nearly yelled, his eyes wide with frustration and fear.

"...What...?"

Joey looked away, kicking himself mentally for letting that last part slip. Seto knew he wouldn't answer, and thought to himself silently about what Joey could have meant...well, there was one obvious possibility.

"Your father.", Seto guessed confidently, noticing Joey visibly wince when he said it.

"...W-what....makes you...s-say 'dat...?", Joey questioned uncomfortably.

"Oh, please, Wheeler", Seto smirked, "Everyone knows your dad is a dead-beat drunkard. It's pretty predictable that he would do something like this."

Joey shut his eyes tightly and tried to ignore Seto's badgering.

"Joey...look, what he's doing to you is very wrong...I could get you help...if you would just admit it - "

"-N-never...! ...Please...j-just...leave...me...alone." Joey whispered the last part, refusing to look at Seto. If only it would all just...go away.

Without another word, Seto nodded, looking sadly at Joey as he picked up his things and left him in the guestroom.

.......

Mai Valentine sighed happily as she felt the rush of air fly into her face and lift her golden locks so that they bounced vivaciously in the breeze. She pressed her foot onto the accelerator excitedly, as the stylish blue convertible dashed toward the peaceful town of Domino City.

She couldn't wait to be .
.

After the crazy events at Battle City, Mai had left the group to pursue her dueling career. It was a tough decision to make...she didn't want to leave, and had really enjoyed being in the company of others for once. Not to mention she had finally gotten to know Joey. For Mai, that was the best part of the entire experience. (Spoiler: She really does say that, I swear! Just you wait and see...!)

Alas, every good thing comes to an end, and her run-in with Yugi's crew was no exception. She was a free spirit, a wanderer, and she knew better than to let a girly crush get in the way of her life! ...But even as she went on to win trophies, championships, and the recognition that she had always dreamed of.... It wasn't enough. She still felt empty; she still felt that hole that couldn't seem to be filled with anything....! It was the most frustrating thing she'd ever encountered. She wanted to feel that warmth that filled her up, that sense of completeness and belonging. Oh, how she longed for it...! She'd never felt it in her entire, lonely life....

...Except once.

When she should have felt fear, terror, and loneliness....when her helplessness should have led her to lose all hope...it was then that she had felt as if none of those things mattered. Even though she'd been moments away from losing her soul... when she felt Joey Wheeler's hands caressing her face, and heard his voice comforting her and telling her that he'd never leave her, and felt his body pressed onto hers....she'd felt it. It had only lasted for a moment, but that was all it took for her to realize that it was all she had ever wanted, and more.

Now, she was determined to find that wholeness once again. This time, she was going to make sure it lasted forever, and she had her hopes set on finding it in Domino City... she wasn't sure if she would succeed, but she sure as hell was gonna try.


......

......

......

Joey stared at the ceiling as he lay on the large bed, his thoughts racing madly as he listened to Kaiba's footsteps echoing down the hallway. He needed to devise some sort of plan to get out of this house and make Kaiba forget the conversation that had taken place several seconds ago. He couldn't believe that jerk had figured it out so quickly....after all his years of hiding it so well.... he'd let it slip in several moments. However, he couldn't even hear himself think, as his body was screaming at him with a volume that drowned out all other thoughts.

God, it hurt. Why the heck didn't they give him something....? Joey decided that the next time that nurse came by he would give her a piece of his mind.

He then spent the next ten minutes trying to find a position that would cause the least pain if he kept completely still... However, he found none, and only succeeded in increasing his suffering by moving around. Joey was furious at the thought of everyone expecting him to just lie there in agony all day with no relief at all. To top it all off, he was starving. He hadn't eaten in days...if he remembered correctly, it had been nearly four since his last meal. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and his stomach was doing backflips, as if the pain wasn't already too much for it to handle. It looked like it was going to be a loooong day.....

......


.....


Yugi sighed worriedly as he gently placed the phone back on the receiver, having just gotten off the line with Tristan. Unfortunately, his friend had given him no news on Joey's whereabouts. It had been a stressful day for all of them...

Upon arriving at school that day, Yugi and his friends were surprised to find that Joey wasn't there again. They hadn't seen him since lunchtime two days ago, and he didn't show up to any of his afternoon classes after that. They weren't too worried then, although Joey rarely skipped class. However, not only was he absent for the next day, he hadn't made an appearance the day after either.

The first thing they could think of was to check his apartment...but they were hesitant. The only other time that they had gone looking for him at his house, his father had thrown a beer bottle at them, having apparently mistaken them for Joey. Knowing that Yugi and Téa were afraid of him, Tristan volunteered to go to Joey's place on his own. Luckily, Mr. Wheeler wasn't at the apartment when he got there, but their friend was nowhere to be found either.

Yugi felt guilty for not being outside looking for Joey; he felt as if he wasdoindoing anything. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't allowed to ride on Tristan's motorcycle, which was exactly what his friends were using to search the city.

He'd tried to be of some help by calling everyone from school whose numbers he knew, but none of them had seen Joey anywhere. Not that Yugi was surprised, of course. Then again, there was -one- person he hadn't called....Kaiba. But Yugi didn't even want to go there. Kaiba hated Joey, why would he want to help them...?

'Well, it's worth a shot, I guess...'

With this in mind, Yugi put his doubt aside and reached for the phone once again.

.....

"Mr. Kaiba? There is a young man on the phone who wishes to speak with you. He says his name is Yugi Moto, and that it's urgent....", informed the servant, holding the phone out to Seto.

Taking it with a nod, he waited until he was alone in the room again before lifting the phone to his ear. He knew exactly what Yugi wanted, but asked anyway...

"What do you want, Yugi...?", asked Seto, impatiently.

"Umm, hi, Kaiba. ...Well, I know you haven't been in school lately, but neither has Joey, and we're really worried. Do you know where he is?", Yugi asked, praying silently as he waited in apprehension for an answer.

Seto thought to himself for a moment, wondering whether he should tell Yugi or not. His instinct told him to keep the truth hidden from the boy, but he contemplated his choices first. If he told Yugi the truth, he might bring himself and all his stupid friends to the mansion and annoy him to no end...but if he lied to Yugi, not only would the poor kid be beside himself with worry, he would eventually find out, and he did not want to be any more on his bad side than he already was, as much as he hated to admit it. Seto sighed, as he felt Yugi's hopefulness radiating from the phone.

"Yes."

Yugi nearly fell over, his eyes widenening in disbelief, as he quickly jumped to speak again.

"Where is he?! Is he alright?! What happened?! ...Say something!"

Seto yawned, bored. This kid was sooo predictable...

"....Do I -have- to tell you...?"

Seto chuckled when he was answered with silence. He sighed again, then continued.

"Listen. I'll tell you, but first you swear that you won't take one step near Wheeler. He'll be fine, and the last thing he needs is ten whiny friends fretting all over him. Do we have ourselves an understanding?"

"...Alright, Kaiba.", said Yugi, hesitantly, "...But can I at least talk to him on the phone? Is he alright? ...Put him on."

Seto growled in frustration at Yugi's annoying persistence.

"Look, you can see him in a few days. To be honest, no, he can't talk right now. But as soon as he's up to it, I'll have him call you. Now will you leave me alone?"

"But can you at least tell what hap-"

"-NO. Ask the mutt when you get the chance. And don't forget to stay away from here.", and with that last warning, he hung up.

Yugi stared at the phone in his hand, not caring that the dial tone was still blaring from the receiver.

'So Joey's at Kaiba's place...but what's he been doing there for two days? I hope he's alright...but from the way Kaiba talked, it sounds like he's hurt...but I sure hope not...'

With that last thought, Yugi finally hung the phone up, and retreated to his bedroom for the night.

....

....

"NO!"

'What the...?!'

Seto shot into a sitting position as he was abruptly awoken once again by the sound of someone screaming.

'What the hell is wrong with him now...?', he thought, annoyed. The last time they had interacted, the mutt had given him an attitude, and now he was shrieking again. As much as he liked the pup, this was beginning to get on his nerves.

Stumbling into the hall, Seto listened curiously to Joey's screams as he made his way down the corridor.

"...PLEASE! DAD, DON'T...!"

'... 'Dad'...? Hn. I knew it....', with this thought, Seto opened the door to the guestroom to find a thrashing Joey yelling incoherently, as he expected.

He made his way to the bed, tapping the boy's shoulder.

"Wake up."

This only made Joey scream and throw himself back, his limbs flailing wildly as he fell off the bed with humphump'. Remembering his injuries, Seto rushed to the other side of the bed, irked to see Joey still out of it, only trembling this time. Confused, Seto shook him lightly.

"Don't touch me! Get AWAY!", screamed Joey, throwing weak punches blindly at Seto, who then grabbed his wrists and pinned him to the ground. This only made him burst into tears and start crying uncontrollably.

'Dear God, this kid sleeps deeply!', remarked Seto to himself. It might have partly beee toe to the fever that still hadn't broken, but for some reason he didn't think so. Still restrained, Joey continued with his hysterics. Seto didn't even have to try to keep him down, though; his protests barely even nudged him.

'Damn, he's beautiful...'

Unable to control his thoughts despite the precarious situation at hand, Seto stared at the one underneath him, drinking in his golden hair and tear-stained skin. For how long had he admired these features from a distance? Now he was so close, just millimeters away from those soft lips...

Joey awoke with a start when one of the aspects of his nightmare suddenly seemed far too real to be a dream. Sure enough, he felt his lips being attacked by someone else's, his honey orbs widening as he felt an invading tongue slithering into his mouth. Too weak to do anything else, he nearly gagged as he forced himself to bite it, relieved when he succeeded in freeing himself from the offending lips. Joey stared up dazedly, as his vision cleared, revealing the culprit.

'Kaiba?!'

"What the hell was that?!", growled Seto, wincing as he felt his mouth filling up with blood.

"I should be asking da same of you!", declared Joey, still in shock at what had just occurred.

"I...", started Seto, quite unsure of what to say.

Joey ignored him, and gave his attention to getting himself off the floor.

"Uh, let me help you...", offered Seto, noticing Joey's grimace as he tried to carry his own weight.

"No!", barked Joey. "I don't need your help! And I sure don't want it, either!"

Seto hesitated before speaking again, hurt by Joey's words.

"...I'm just trying to-"

"-I know exactly what you want, ya perv!", Joey retorted, noticing Seto flinch visibly.

"....I am not a pervert! ...I-", Seto pa, ta, taking a deep breath. "....I love you."

Joey was completely floored by what Kaiba had just told him. Was this some sort of trick...?

".....So you're trying to tell me....-that-..... after all those insults, and everything else ya ever did ta me? What da hell are you tryin' ta pull, Kaiba?!"

"I....I tried to tell you.....I....sort of did. I sort of told you lots of times, but at the same time, I....didn't.", Seto finished, disappointed with his lame attempt to redeem himself.

Joey was confused. What the heck did he just say...? He did....but he didn't? It was almost as if...

'God, no.', thought Joey as he had a sudden revelation.

"You're...you're...!", began Joey, unable to believe it. Kaiba was....

"....You're aNOnymOUs...", breathed Joey, still shocked at what he had just realized.

Seto sighed in defeat, knowing it would be pointless to deny it.

"You're right...that was me. I tried to-", started Seto, sighing once more as he was interrupted by Joey again, wishing the guy would just listen to him for once.

"-I don't wanna hear it....I don't wanna hear any of it!"

"Please, li-", begged Seto.

"Get out. Now.", whispered Joey, staring listlessly at the ground upon which he was still kneeling.

"....Alright.", said Seto dejectedly, slowing trudging out of the room, looking ironically like the defeated dog that he had always compared Joey to.

Listening to the light click of the door's handle as it closed, Joey sat stunned on the floor. Had what he thought just happened....really just happen? Had his arch-rival just kissed him and confess his love to him? This really was too much. Boy, what a pickle he had gotten himself into this time! He wasn't sure whether to laugh his head off or scream. This was just unbelievable...

But he knew he had to get out of that house. Not only would his father probably beat him within an inch of his life when he got home for being so late, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from strangling Kaiba if he saw his face again. So he could not stay there much longer. It was nearly dawn, though, and once it was bright outside, he knew he couldn't expect to try and leave. So he would have to move fast. Well, as fast as he could, considering his condition....

After ripping the IV from his wrist unceremoniously, Joey grabbed hold of the dresser by the bed and used it to help him heave himself off the ground. He was a little dizzy at first, but he waited until it passed. Once it did, he retrieved his now clean uniform pants from a nearby chair, and carefully made his way to the closet, where he found a clean shirt. Once he had slipped into the clothes and his sneakers, Joey pocketed the bottle of Advil on the dresser after swallowing 3 pills. He then grudgingly scribbled a short note of thanks, which he left on the bed, and hobbled to the door.

Listening closely with his ear pressed against the frame, Joey was satisfied to find no sounds indicating anyone's presence in the hall. Opening the door as quietly as he could, Joey stepped out of the room. He had no idea where he was, since he had been unconscious when they had brought him in. From the look of it, the place was huge. However, he still had a little time before anyone woke up. Silently, he staggered down the hallway, trying very hard to maintain control over the yelps of pain that kept trying to come out. After finally escaping the -very- long corridor, he was surprised to find himself on a catwalk, which led him to the top of a flight of stairs. Groaning, he knew he'd have to descend them if he wanted out. Leaning heavily on the mahogany railing, which he was also gripping for dear life, Joey painstakingly made his way down the steps, feeling as if he would explode if he had to force one more scream down his throat.

His face slick with sweat, Joey finally found himself on the first floor of the mansion, after what had seemed to him like an eternity, even though he had only cleared two sets of stairs.

'At least I didn't have to go up any stairs...' , thought Joey, thankfully.

After rounding a corner, Joey noticed that he had somehow managed to find the mansion's foyer. Relieved, he limped over to the gigantic double doors that were the gateway to his freedom. Gripping the ornate brass handle, Joey untwisted the lock and pushed the door open....only to nearly fall to the floor in shock as a shrill, piercing sound erupted into the air.

"HOLY SHIT!", he yelled, then seeing the digital alarm system that he had failed to notice before. There was no time to think, however, as he only had one option: run. Run as fast as he could. He knew it would hurt like nothing else, but at that moment it was his only choice. So Joey, who ten minutes earlier could barely stand, proceeded to launch himself into the fastest sprint he'd ever ran in his entire life.

He might as well have swallowed a lit stick of dynamite, because the effect would have been no different than what happened to him a second after he began to run.

'Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh...just how long is this damned driveway, anyway?! ...God!'

Trying his best to ignore the hammers in his head (and everywhere else, for that matter), Joey continued in his dash across the CEO's gargantuan yard, thanking his lucky stars that there was no gate at the end of it. Once he had finally made it off the property, he didn't stop, but continued to run like mad until he reached an alley, where he reeled for several moments until he promptly collapsed onto the wet concrete, clutching his trembling body and gasping for air.

He was so sick of pain. He was always in pain; something was always hurting. And now he would have to go home, and what would he experience when he got there? Pain. He had concluded long ago that God had something against him. Never had he wanted so much to just die, as he lay writhing in agony in some forgotten alley.

Fighting the darkness that was creeping into the corners of his vision, Joey pushed it away, and forced his body to stand up. That stupid Advil would kick in any second now, and he couldn't risk being unconscious on the streets. Unfortunately for him, though, it was dank and gray outside, and the roads were slick with the water that had been brought by the never-ending drizzle that had begun during the night. However, he really didn't have a choice.

As he began his journey, which certainly would take several hours at least, Joey passed the time by thinking of the perfect excuse that he could give his father when he got home, although he knew it was pointless anyway....

............

............

............

5 hours and six Advil later, Joey found himself staring at the decrepit apartment complex that he called home. He had arrived earlier than he'd expected, as it wasn't even noon yet. This was not a good thing, however, because it meant that his father was probably home. But Joey was too tired to care, so without further hesitation, he forced his exhausted body to ascend several flights of stairs until he reached the third floor, and made his way to his door.

'God, help me...', he silently prayed, although he knew it wouldn't be heard, as always...

Pushing the dingy door open, Joey entered the filthy apartment just in time to see his father's head jerk up at the sudden noise. Surprisingly, he didn't seem too drunk. This was always either a very good thing, or a very, very bad thing.

"You.", accused his father, while giving him a glare that held nothing but hatred and utter contempt. Clearly, today was it was a very, very bad thing. Joey didn't reply, but stood rooted to the spot, and watched as his dad began rummaging through a pile of messy papers and scraps that surrounded him on the couch. Apparently he had decided to pick up the mail recently, a job that usually Joey tended to. After several moments, he held up a torn envelope and death-glared Joey again. Joey looked at it, confused, and gasped in surprise when his father suddenly leaped from the couch and threw the paper in his face.

"What the HELL is this, you stupid bitch?!", he yelled, slamming poor Joey into the wall.

"...Wait! Please, what are you- aggh!", screamed Joey, who was silenced by a sharp slap to the face.

"SHUT UP, dumbass! You know what I got in the mail?", shouted Mr. Wheeler, who punctuated his question with another hit to Joey's face, who remained silent, clutching his stinging cheek.

"A check! From that dump where you work!"

Joey's eyes widened considerably in realization and horror.

'Oh, God.'

"Does this mean what I think it does?! Answer me, you little piece o' shit!"

"....Dad, I...I tried to tell you, but..."

Joey stopped talking when his father stepped back suddenly, his eyes flaring with rage.

"....I always knew you were worthless. You little good-for-nothing BASTARD!", he yelled, grabbing hold of Joey's shoulders and ramming him into the wall repeatedly.

"You're nothing but a good FUCK!!", declared the enraged drunkard, who continued to pound his son against the wall in fury. Joey winced at the reference to one of his most painful memories, but was quickly snapped back to reality when he was dropped to the floor. He listened as his father charged into one of the bedrooms, raving about how he had no son, and Joey's incompetence. The sound of things being knocked over and crashing noises could be heard as he was apparently searching for something. While he apprehensively awaited his father's return, Joey managed to stand up again, although his body kept threatening to fall, as he was very dizzy after having his aching head bashed into the wall. Shutting his eyes rebelliously as he leaned against the wall, he attempted to block out the hazy, spinning chaos that surrounded him.

However, it suddenly became very quiet. Joey took advantage of the several moments of bliss, but they were soon interrupted by a single clicking noise that he didn't recognize. Opening his eyes curiously, Joey's breath caught in his throat sharply when he saw the scene before him.

His father, face red with rage, was holding a gun.

And he was aiming it at him.

Joey's mind was screaming at him to run, but he was so stunned, he couldn't move. Watching as his father shouted something along the lines of his worthlessness and clutched the gun tighter in his hands, Joey's eyes widened as he was jolted back to reality, and jumped to the side. Growling in frustration when a smoking bullet embedded itself in the wall where Joey had been standing a second earlier, Mr. Wheeler chased after his son, who was now racing towards the door of the apartment. Flinging the door open, Joey yelped when another bullet nicked the frame, only inches away from his head.

Once outside, Joey frantically tore down the stairs of the building, his father now standing at the railing of the top floor, shooting wildly at his son below.

As Joey continued to run like mad, he felt something ram into his shoulder, but feeling no pain, ignored it. Suddenly, the firing the stopped, and a loud string of curses could now be heard from his father, whose gun had apparently run out of bullets. Leaning over the railing, Mr. Wheeler waved the gun drunkenly at his fleeing son, who was now running down the street.

"AND DON'T EVER COME BACK, YA LITLLE FUCKER!!!"

With that last warning, he smirked when Joey didn't turn back. But he knew he had heard it. Satisfied, the drunkard made his way back to his now empty apartment, looking forward to how he would celebrate the riddance of his son.

....................

Staggering into a wet, dark alley, Joey screamed when his shoulder, which for some reason had gone numb several minutes ago, suddenly exploded with a whiot pot pain. Realizing that his father had managed to hit him during that seemingly endless rain of bullets, he slumped against a wall, breathing heavily as he felt the all-too-familiar crimson liquid pouring down his arm and chest. He never thought it'd come to this...

"God!", he sobbed, rocking back and forth, his tears mixing with the raindrops that pelted his face.

'He shot me.....God, he shot me!', Joey thought, coming to the very painful realization that his father truly despised him. For all those years, he had kept some hope in his heart that his father held a bit of love for his son, despite the way he mistreated him. But as he remembered his father's words that had been ringing in his ears several minutes ago, it couldn't have been more clear that the way his dad felt about him was far from being described as love.

Letting his body slip dejectedly onto the damp asphalt, Joey curled into a ball and began to cry, wailing into the night as he felt a new pain that he had never known before. For the first time in his life ... he felt truly and utterly alone.


.........................

"What do MEAN I 'can't see him'?!", raged a -very- angry Mai Valentine, who had been screaming at a terrified maid for the past five minutes. She had entered the Kaiba Mansion very determined to see Joey, and this idiotic girl actually had the audacity to refuse her request, giving meek excuses explaining how Mr. Kaiba had forbidden it.

"Eh...just wait here, please, miss...", she said, rather nervously, and scurried away, leaving a fuming Mai alone in the parlor.

Of all the people who had to be 'unavailable' in Domino City, it had to be Joey, the one human in the whole freakin' town who she wanted to see.

When Mai had arrived in Domino, she went straight to the Game Shop after checking into a hotel downtown. Yugi had been very enthusiastic about her arrival, and had bombarded her with questions for nearly half an hour. When she managed to get him to shut up for a minute and asked him about Joey, he got strangely quiet and attempted to change the subject. Mai had immediately sensed a secret.

After nearly strangling him for information, Mai finally got Yugi to confess (very hesitantly) that Joey was at Kaiba's house, much to her surprise. But he insisted that she didn't try to go there. Naturally, she didn't..... listen, that is. After assuring a very unconvinced Yugi that she wouldn't go near the Kaiba Mansion, Mai hastily left the shop and drove to the mansion, where she encountered the jittery maid who had left thom mom moments ago.

Pacing the room, Mai attempted to focus on something other than the rather enticing idea of choking that maid to death. Failing miserably, she decided not to bother waiting and stalked out of the parlor with a huff into one of the adjoining corridors. Hearing distant whirring noises that piqued her curiosity, Mai made her way to a room at the end of the hallway, and entered to find Mokuba playing video games on a large T.V. screen that engulfed an entire wall.

"Mokuba?", she asked, trying to make her voice loud enough so that it could be heard over the blasting sounds that emanated from the T.V. Failure.

"MOKUBA!"

Jumping a little when complete silence suddenly replaced the game's noise when Mokuba paused it, Mai watched as he turned around, confusion evident on his face when he saw who it was.

"...Mai?"

"Yes, it's me, Mokuba. ....Do you know where I can find Joey?"

"...Joey?", asked Mokuba, wondering why on earth Mai thought he would know such a thing. "Joey Wheeler?"

"Yeah, him. Yugi said he was here. He's here, right?", asked Mai, her voice faltering as Mokuba's face became blank with confusion. Sighing in frustration, she turned around and began to leave the room, when he offered another suggestion.

"Ask big brother. If anybody knows, it's hI haI haven't seen him in a while, but all of the rooms that he usually stays in are on the third floor in the hallway by the sculpture. Check there." With that last piece of advice, Mokuba returned to his game, which caused poor Mai to jump again when the blast of sound rammed itself into the room once more.

"THANKS!", she shouted, turning to the door again.

"ANYTIME!", replied Mokuba, who didn't even look away from the screen.

Making her way up one of the many winding flights of stairs that existed in the mansion, Mai arrived at the third floor and began to look for the hallway that Mokuba had described. It wasn't too hard, as it was impossible to miss the two giant illuminated glass sculptures of Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragons, guarding a dark hallway. Although she had to admit it looked a little spooky, Mai quickly pushed the silly thought away and strutted into the corridor.

..............

Seto had been locked in his room all day. After discovering that Joey had left the mansion when the note on his bed was found, he had given strict orders that no one would be allowed to see him at all. The room, which was usually tidied to perfection, was now in completed disarray, with every object that weighed less than 100 pounds having been thrown into one of the walls, and broken shards of various materials littered across the floor. Not to mention his appearance, which greatly contrasted the clean, put-together look that he usually displayed, but he was far too angry to care.

How could someone reject him? Seto Kaiba. THE Seto Kaiba.

And by that...that....dog! He had never felt such humiliation in his entire life. At least that's what he thought he was feeling. He wasn't sure what it was. Not knowing how to deal with these terrible emotions, he had resorted to locking himself in his room and angrily tearing it apart. However, just as he was about to hurl something into the last intact mirror in his room, a knock on the door interrupted him.

Had he not -clearly- made it known that he was to be left alone until further notice? Someone was definitely losing their job for this. Not only was he NOT in the mood to talk, he looked like crap, and he knew it. So instead of taking his anger out on the mirror, he unleashed it upon the door. Surprisingly, he was answered not only by more furious knocking, but shouting too.

"Seto Kaiba, you open the door this INSTANT, you freaking nutcase!"

Hmmm. He recognized that voice from somewhere. His anger momentarily gave way to a lapse of curiosity, as Seto casually unlocked the door and stepped back. The pesky visitor pushed opened the door and marched inhe rhe room, waving a slender finger in his face.

'Mai Valentine ? That flamboyant blonde from the tournament? What the-'

"WHERE is he?"

He was not in the mood for this...

"Well, say something! ...You look like hell, you know that?"

Silence.

Glare.

"...Anyway, where's Joey? Yugi said he was here, and-"

"He's not here.", he replied nonchalantly.

"Not...here? Well, then where-"

"I don't know where he is. And frankly, I don't give a shit. That stupid mongrel took off, and either he made it to his destination, or he's on the streets somewhere. I don't know anymore, so leave me alone, damn it!" Shouting the last part, Seto shoved Mai out of the room and locked the door again, leaving her alone in the hallway. Rubbing her now sore backside, Mai angrily removed herself from the floor and marched back down the stairs, fuming.

'What a jerk!', she concluded, and was out of the mansion and back in her car at record speed.

What on earth had Joey gotten himself into this time? Well, it was beyond her. She had to find him... but where to look? He obviously wasn't at Yugi's, who still believed him to be at the Kaiba Mansion. She didn't even know where his house was, which probably was her best bet. But maybe one of his other friends knew where he lived. Serenity had given her everybody's number after Battle City ended, so that they could keep in touch. Ironically, the only number she couldn't get was Joey's, who apparently didn't have a phone for some reason. No matter; she would just ask Tristan for his address. Reaching for her cell phone, Mai began to think of places to look for Joey if he wasn't home.

...............

"Yo.", greeted Tristan.

"Hey there. It's Mai, remember me?"

'Mai? ...Boy, wait 'til Joey hears about this.'

"Mai! How're you doing?", he asked, curious as to why on earth Mai was calling him.

"I'm just fine... I was wondg ifg if you knew where Joey lived, I was thinking of stopping by.", she remarked discreetly. She figured it was better that she kept her little hunt to herself.

"Eh, I don't know if you wanna do that, Mai. He hasn't been around lately, and his place isn't exactly a palace..."

"Oh, pooh, I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself! If he's not there, I already have a note to leave there for him.", she said, smoothly telling another lie.

"Uh...sure, Mai...well, it's near downtown, in a pretty dingy neighborhood...I wouldn't mind taking you there...."

"For God's sake, Tristan, just give me the address!", she shouted in frustration.

"Alright, alright...it's 10080 on 3rd street. Apartment 301. But be careful, Mai..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks Tristan. Tell your friends I said 'hi', alright?"

"No prob."

"Great. Later."

"Nice to hear from you."

"Uh-huh."

Tristan waited until he heard a click, then hung up the phone. Well, that was weird. Mai disappears for months, then shows up wanting to know where Joey's place is? Well, she always was pretty unpredictable. He just hoped she didn't get herself into trouble hanging around that part of town. But he wasn't too worried. He was way more worried about Joey, who was at Kaiba's house for some reason. He didn't know why, but Yugi had made him promise not to tell anyone. He really felt bad about lying to Mai.

But what he didn't know was that she was way ahead of all of them.

.................

.................

.................

Joey muttered a curse under his breath as the first tell-tale drops of a downpour began to hit his face. He had been huddled in a small space behind a dumpster in the alley the entire day, and had been doing a pretty good job of keeping himself hidden from the many gangs that had passed by throughout the afternoon. Absolutely miserable, he had been simply staring at the gray sky for several hours, trying the block out the throbbing in his shoulder and the annoying feeling of hunger that never seemed to leave him alone.

His shoulder was now crusty with dry blood, but he was wary of it becoming infected because of the rainwater and the disgusting conditions that he was currently under. It was only a relatively shallow flesh wound, as he had concluded, but the bullet was still lodged in place. This not only caused him great pain, but it would surely lead to infection, so he knew he would have to take it out somehow, which was something he was not looking forward to. Maybe he should have stayed at Kaiba's place...

'Nah...I would rather die here than be stuck with that perverted fag!', he thought bitterly, trying not to think about what had happened with Seto and his father . It wouldn't get out of his head, though. So Joey figured that now was the best time to attempt to remove the bullet, since it would be nice to have his destroyed emotions be distracted by physical pain. Carefully peeling off his T-shirt, which was soaked through again as the rain was now pouring down heavily, he took a good look at the newest wound on his battered body.

It certainly was disgusting...but Joey ignored it. Hissing in pain when he tried to touch it, he immediately began to rethink his decision to pull the bullet out himself. But there really was no other option. He wouldn't be able to make it to any of his friends' houses, his father would kill him if he showed up at the apartment, and he had no money or insurance, so a hospital was out of the question. And he had made up his mind about Kaiba's house. So he had no choice.

Gritting his teeth, he turned his attention to the shoulder once again. It really wasn't that deep of a hole, so he decided to test it and slowly slid a finger into the wound. Gasping as his back arched with the immense pain that this caushe fhe fought to ignore it and pushed a little further until he felt the metallic surface of the bullet. Nowt het he knew exactly how deep it was, he pulled the finger out, cringing at the sick suction sound that occurred when he did this. Now for the fun part.

He didn't even want to think about how much this was gonna hurt...he had only touched the bullet and his eyes were already gushing tears of pain. But he knew that the more he thought about it, the harder it would be to make himself do it, so he decided to just get it over with. Clenching his jaw tightly and focusing on a random spot on the wall in front of him, he took a deep breath and plunged his fingers into his shoulder.

..............

..............

Mai immediately regretted her actions as she took a look around the gritty apartment. She nearly gagged when she smelled the disgusting odor that reeked from every corner, aaw taw the stains of alcohol and blood across every inch of the walls and carpet. Joey lived here? It seemed impossible that any human could inhabit such a place, especially, the sweet, fun-loving guy she had gotten to know.

Cautiously stepping over pieces of broken glass and empty beer cans, Mai stopped short when she noticed a disheveled man draped over a ratty couch. She guessed that it was Mr. Wheeler. He seemed to be out cold, though, so she carefully crept by him and into a short hallway, where she found three doorse fie first one led to a bathroom that no word could describe. Backing away from it quickly, Mai opted for the second door. This time she found a small bedroom, with a rickety bed in the center and various mismatched pieces of furniture. No Joey.

Upon entering the last room, Mai figured it was Joey's. It was even smaller the other room, which she thought to be impossible, and didn't even have a bed. Instead, there was an old mattress on the floor, with a folded sheet laid on it. The only other piece of furniture was a set of drawers in the other corner of the room. Disgusted by more bloodstains on the carpet, Mai inched her way across the room and found a box.

It was rather noticeable, since there was literally nothing else in the room. Curious, Mai opened it to find what was apparently Joey's collection of odds and ends that were important to him. There were several letters from Serenity, along with pictures of her and a lock of her auburn hair. There was also Joey's dueling deck, of course. Among other things that she didn't recognize, Mai was pleasantly surprised to find the handkerchief that she had given him during Duelist Kingdom. She smiled as she fingered its lace edges, remembering the dorky knucklehead she had met two years ago, and thought about how much he had changed.

However, her trip down memory lane was cut short when she suddenly heard the sound of someone stumbling down the hall. She didn't have time to wonder what it was, though, because the door to Joey's room then swung open to reveal the revolting man she had seen several minutes before. She could tell he was surprised, but after a moment of drunken confusion, he began to give Mai a look that she definitely didn't like.

"Nev'r seen you 'round 'ere b'fore....", he slurred, smiling at her and failing miserably to sound seductive. Mai glanced wildly around the room, trying to find some way of escape, but he was blocking the door.

"You one'a th' boy's frien's...? Nev'r knew he 'ad sush good taste.", he said, smiling again, and began to advance towards her.

Mai frantically threw her hand into her purse, her fingers searching for an object she had only been forced to use several times before.

Kent Wheeler shrieked in pain and surprise when suddenly her hand flew out of her purse and a spray of chemicals began to torment his eyes. Once he had fallen to his knees, coughing and rubbing his eyes desperately, Mai took the opportunity to open the window and step onto the fire escape.

However, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her back in, and looked back, shocked to see that Joey's father had recovered from the mace so quickly, although his eyes were still teary and his face was tomato-red.

"Heh...y'won' git' away from meh that easy, sweet-cheeks...", he gushed, and pushed her against the wall roughly, pinning her arms against her head and shoving his tongue into her mouth before she even knew what hit her. Mai nearly choked on the bile that rushed up her throat when she tasted the remnants of alcohol and cigarette smoke in the drunkard's mouth. Absolutely disgusted, she bit down on the man's tongue as hard as she could, and didn't let go until she tasted blood in her mouth, as gross as it was. He jumped away from her, screaming and clutching his mouth.

A second later, he quickly got over it, giving Mai a terrible glare and slamming his fist across her face.

"Y'stupid bitch! Jus' what're y'think yer' doin'! ...Fuck, that 'urt!", he screamed at Mai, who was now trembling on the floor, staring up at him with wide, terrified eyes as she held her stinging cheek, tears running down her face. She wanted so badly to escape, but was so scared and shocked that she couldn't think straight. She watched in horror as he began fumbling with his jeans.

Forcing herself to snap out of her daze, she noticed that he wasn't watching her, so she began to search through her purse for something else that could be of some help. Her can of mace was on the floor in the other corner of the room, out of reach, and her cell phone had no service, much to her dismay. However, she did see one item that caught her attention: her nail file. It was one of those big metal ones that was pointed at the end, and interestingly resembled a knife.

Clutching it tightly in her shaking hand, she hid it behind her back just as the now naked man began to approach her once again. She didn't resist when he shoved her to the floor, but once she felt his hands pulling at her shirt, she quickly pulled her arm from underneath her back and drove the file into his thigh.

"AAAARGH!! ...Y-y'fuckin' BITCH!", he screamed, rolling off of Mai and doubling over on the floor, staring in horror at his leg, from which the file's handle could be seen jutting out of.

Mai had long since ran out of the room and dashed down the stairs, into the rain. Sobbing hysterically as she tried to get a grip on her keys with her wildly trembling hands, she jumped into her car and tore into the street, the tires skidding on the wet asphalt as she sped down the road. Once she was in a better part of town, she veered into an empty parking lot, slamming on the brakes and turning off the engine. She didn't bother to put on the car's hood, even though it was pouring rain and thunder could be heard rumbling every few moments.

Curling up in a ball on the seats, she b to to cry uncontrollably, sobs racking her entire body. Not only was she crying for herself and the terrible ordeal she had just been through, but she also was crying for Joey, shocked with the realization of the monster he had lived with, and the thought of all the horrible things he had to have endured. And now only God knew where he was, and she couldn't do anything about it.

Wailing inconsolably, Mai wondered what had become of her love, fearful that she would never see him again.

..........

..........

Joey awoke to complete darkness, and the soft pitter-patter of the rain that was now only a drizzle. He was lying in a puddle, still in a corner between a wall and a dumpster. He didn't try to move, as his body had become completely numb, aside from a dull throbbing in his shoulder, and he wanted it to stay that way.

He had managed to get the bullet out, somehow. He had no idea how he was able to do it, but he didn't care anymore. After sticking several fingers into his arm, he had ceased to think. The pain had been...indescribable; he hadn't even bothered holding down the screams. It had taken longer than he thought it would get a grip on the small bullet, and for several minutes, he had actually been searching through the wound with his fingers, refusing to pull them out and end the torture until his goal was accomplished. He always had been stubborn; he was Joey, after all. After several agonizing minutes, he got the offending object out, and had promptly lost consciousness.

Now, several hours later, he found himself lethargic and surrounded by water and blood. The latter was there because his probing had caused the wound to open and bleed, but it was beginning to close again. He knew he would have to leave that wretched alley soon, as he had been huddled behind the dumpster for nearly two days, and hunger was beginning to take its toll on him. He was gradually becoming emaciated; the only thing he had had to eat in an entire week being some soup. But unfortunately, he had no way of obtaining food. So he simply would have to endure the hunger for the time being.

Although it was still raining slightly, the clouds had cleared up, so Joey decided to distract his mind from his misery, and began counting stars.

................

It had been nearly a week now, since his father had driven him out of the apartment. For one week he had survived the streets, alone and without food or shelter. Five days had passed since he had removed the bullet from his shoulder wound, which much to his dismay and annoyance, got infected anyway and looked more disgusting with each passing day. Now Joey was just awakening after spending the night in an old abandoned warehouse, underneath a pile of papers.

Food.

It was all he thought about, as much as he tried to distract himself from doing so. Two nights ago he had managed to find a leftover box of pizza with some crusts in it, which he had gladly eaten, but it still didn't help much. Although it had temporarily quelled his hunger pains, he was still ashamed at having had to search through trash for scraps of food. He knew he would have to make himself do it again soon, however, as his body was absolutely emaciated now. Not skinny yet, but it was obvious that he was malnourished.

He wouldn't beg, though. He refused. He would rather die than take charity from anyone. If Joey Wheeler couldn't save his own ass, than he didn't deserve to live anyway. At least that's how he saw it.

Pushing the grimy papers off of his body with his good arm, Joey carefully stood up and made his way out of the warehouse. He found it remarkable how the sun could never find its way into this part of town. It was nearly noon, and the alleyways still somehow managed to stay shrouded in shadows.

Luckily, hardly any of his bruises and wounds were giving him anymore trouble, aside from where his father had shot and stabbed him, of course. While those two still throbbed incessantly and caused him great pain when he moved in certain ways, he had managed to find a way to travel while avoiding their interference for the most part.

Cautiously walking down a deserted street, Joey looked around hopefully for a way to get food, but there were no restaurants or homes in sight. Just ratty old warehouses and broken down businesses. This was hopeless....

'Maybe I would be better off dead after all...', he thought, his will to survive decreasing with each futile step.

........

.......

......

Mokuba Kaiba hadn't seen his brother in days. At first he figured something had simply gone wrong at work and he was a little angry, but now it seemed as if he had forgotten about everyone else in his life. Mokuba hadn't gone to school either, since he was afraid of leaving the house alone. Big Brother was the one who made his breakfast; Big Brother was the one who helped him get ready for school everyday; Big Brother was the one who tucked him into bed every night.

Mokuba had taken care of himself for several days, but he was beginning to feel neglected, and he was worried about Seto. So he had decided to go see him himself, even though he had been told not to.

Meekly stepping past the large, intimidating glass dragons, Mokuba slowly walked to the large door of his brother's bedroom. Turning the ornate handle, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Usually Big Brother always locked the door when he was in one of his rooms.

It was dark in the room, but that didn't keep Mokuba from being able to see that the entire bedchamber was destroyed. He was glad he was wearing shoes, because every inch of the carpet was covered in broken glass. Every piece of furniture had been thrown across the room or tipped over, and there were feathers scattered everywhere from some poor pillow that had been stabbed or something. But Seto was nowhere in sight.

Well, it was a big room. He couldn't be that hard to find. Sure enough, within a few moments, Mokuba found his brother crouched behind an overturned armoire.

But something was wrong.

Was he...crying?

He was. Apparently, he hadn't even noticed Mokuba yet.

"Big Brother....?", whispered Mokuba, amazed and shocked at what he was seeing. He had never seen his brother cry. He didn't care about anything or anyone enough for that. Or at least it had always seemed that way.

Seto slowly turned around and looked up at Mokuba, who gasped when he saw his brother's face. Sure, he'd been pale before, but now, he looked almost...sickly. And he had ghastly dark rings around his eyes, which were bloodshot. His hair, normally groomed to perfection, was all over the place, so much so that he looked like a mental case.

"Mokuba...", he rasped, his voice hoarse from all of the crying. Reaching up to his little brother, he pulled him down and took him in his arms, gripping onto his small body as if he was afraid to lose him.

He still had Mokuba, at least... the little boy was all he had. It had been that way for years, but for some reason he felt terribly lonely anyway. Mokuba's eyes widened considerably as his brother's body suddenly convulsed against his, becoming wracked with sobs. What on earth had come over him...?! He had never, ever seen Seto like this. He couldn't imagine what had happened to cause him to react this way...

Confused, Mokuba kept quiet in his brother's lap, letting Seto rock him back and forth as he released the anxieties that had caused him so much torment...

........

........

........

Mai angrily kicked a trashcan as she screamed in frustration, looking wearily around the millionth god-forsaken alley she had come across in the past week.

She couldn't find him.

She must have been down every damned street in Joey's neighborhood a thousand times, but he was nowhere to be found. It was quite evident that he had wandered off to some other part of town. However, she hadn't really wanted to accept this, since the next neighborhood, which was directly across from Joey's, was a very crummy place indeed. It looked like the type of place where gangs and prostitutes roamed.

'Leave it to Joey to wander into a place like that.', Mai thought to herself, not liking the idea of being in that part of town at all. However, the thought of what Joey could be going through at the moment urged her to press on and be willing to sacrifice for his well-being, just as he had done so many times before for her.

Besides, it wasn't as if she was -totally- vulnerable to the dangers of the streets. After her frightening encounter with Joey's father, Mai had quickly obtained a gun, which she now kept close in her jacket at all times. Should anyone try to take advantage of her again, she was ready to blow their head off without a second thought.

However, she couldn't help but feel uneasy as she entered the area that she felt drawn to explore.

Mai noted with perplexity and nervousness that it had suddenly become dark. The moment she had made her way into the red-light district, it was as if someone had turned the lights off. She knew that this had a logical reason behind it, which was that since the buildings in this part of town were taller and much closer together than where she had just been, and consisted of only alleyways and no streets, barely any sunlight was able to make it into the dingy slum. ...But it still creeped her out, nonetheless.

Sighing with fatigue, Mai subconsciously placed her hand over the gun where it rested under her vest, pulling herself together as she returned to her desperate search.

.........

.........

.........

Joey's eyes scanned yet another alley hungrily, groaning as his stomach lurched painfully, begging for nourishment. He wasn't surprised when, once again, there was nothing edible in sight. This search for food was getting ridiculous. He was about to give up and just head for the nearest trash can to search through its contents, when he suddenly got the feeling that he was not alone.

Hearing the sound of someone chuckling, Joey cried out in surprise and whipped around, finding himself face to face with three very large, very sinister-looking men. They all reminded him of his father. Only they didn't look drunk. Staring at them, wide-eyed, Joey's fear was keeping him rooted to the spot, even though his brain was telling him to run. The men sensed this, and laughed at him again, at the same time watching him with lustful gleams in their eyes.

"Hey there, pretty boy...", said the tallest, smiling at Joey in a way that scared him. Joey, who was now trembling, stood hisund und as the same man cupped his chin and tilted his head up so that he could admire the blonde's handsome features.

"Yes...very pretty....", he remarked again, earning a few more chuckles from the other thugs at his side.

"Leave me alone...please....", Joey whispered, afraid to anger them by raising his voice. Normally he would have turned these guys' lights out ages ago, but he knew that if he tried to fight or escape them in his current condition, it would only earn him more pain.

His thoughts were interrupted when the strange man suddenly gripped his face and smashed his lips against his with a bruising kiss, pushing him against a brick wall so that he couldn't try to escape.

Choking on the screams that couldn't make it past his throat, Joey made futile attempts to push the man off of himself, even trying to kick him.

Finally releasing Joey's mouth, the man was clearly annoyed with Joey's flailing, and shoved him roughly to the ground, motioning to the other men to hold him down, which they did immediately.

Joey screamed in pain as they pinned him onto the ground by pressing onto his shoulders, one of them being severely injured, of course.

"Please, let me go! Please...!", he wailed, tears of agony pouring down his cheeks. His cries only earned him a harsh slap to the face from the man who was obviously the leader of the little pack. Joey watched helplessly as the man began to undress, praying silently to God to send someone, anyone, to save him. But of course, he knew his prayer would go unanswered, as did every other prayer he had every bothered to pray.

Now the men were tearing at his clothes, and a moment later, he was totally bare. Whimpering from pain and humiliation, he let out a strangled sob as all three of the men's hands roamed his entire body, and fought the sudden urge to vomit at their unwelcome groping.

Suddenly, the two 'helpers' flipped him onto his stomach and pinned him down again, making him scream out in pain once more. He then felt the third man crawl on top of him, and his eyes widened in realization of what was coming next.

'God, no... they're going to do what Dad-!'

His thoughts were abruptly cut to a halt when suddenly, without warning, he felt his insides ripping apart.

..........

..........

..........

Seto released his brother from his vice-like grip, suddenly pulling away from him and getting to his feet. Mokuba looked up questioningly at his brother, confused again. Why was he getting up, now...?

"Mokuba...I'm going out for a while. I probably won't be back before you go to sleep. I want you to go play somewhere else, this room is too dangerous for you to be in right now, alright?"

Mokuba nodded shakily, still stunned at his brother's unheard of behavior. He watched as Seto hastily dressed, and made his way to the bedroom door, then turned around to face him once again.

"Mokuba....thank you for staying with me there....I love you, little brother.", Seto said softly, before quickly leaving the room. Mokuba, now alone, could only stare incredulously at the door that was now swinging slightly, and wonder what on earth had just occurred.

...

The young CEO hurriedly made his way to the limo, where he ordered his driver to take him to a certain crummy neighborhood downtown. The driver, slightly startled with his employer's unusual request, obeyed and let Seto out on a corner in the aforementioned area. Seto then told his driver to find a safe place to park, and wait for him to call from his cell phone to be picked up. With a nod, the driver closed the car window and sped away, leaving the flustered brunette alone on the street corner.

Seto was determined to search the entire rotten city until he found his puppy. He was ashamed of himself for being selfish enough to forget about Joey and wallow in self-pity. Now he could be hurt or worse, all because of him.

Seto continued to mentally berate himself as he wandered the winding maze of alleys, and wondered if he had begun his search in the right place. However, after only twenty minutes of walking, he saw a familiar figure trudging along the side of an old warehouse.

It was...Mai Valentine? What on earth was she doing there....?

Seto then remembered how she had stormed into his house, demanding to know where Joey was. He felt guilty at this thought, knowing that his reaction would have been similar to hers were he a normal, caring person. But he wasn't. He was cold, and he hated that fact right now. Because of it, he might have already succeeded in indirectly killing someone he loved. Yes, he wished he were a little more like the blonde girl that he was watching, who apparently had been searching for days for Joey.

'Like any -true- friend would', Seto thought to himself sadly.

...

Mai slowly made her way across another alleyway, refusing to give up hope. She let out a dramatic sigh, only to have her thoughts interrupted by someone's shouting.

"Valentine!", the voice yelled. Who the freak was this? And how did they know her name....? Well, turning around seemed like a good way to find out. When she did, she was quite surprised to see none other than Seto Kaiba walking toward her.

"What are you doing here?", he quonedoned, his face revealing no emotions at all, as usual.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Kaiba....", said Mai, sighing when he continued to glare at her, obviously irked that she hadn't answered his question.

"...I'm looking for Joey, remember? I kinda figured he'd be somewhere around here, since his place is nearby.... Yourn.urn."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, but he chose to ignore the way her words were laced with haughtiness.

"...Well, if you must know, I too am looking for Wheeler. But this is only because I'm partly at fault for his absence, and I won't allow myself to be in the mutt's debt.", he lied, making his voice sound as cold and indifferent as possible.

"Uh-huh...well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, Kaiba, I'm afraid I've got more important things to do right now...."

"I'll go with you.", Seto cut in, before he could think of what he was doing.

"...Really?", asked Mai, curious as to why Seto Kaiba wanted her accompaniment, of all people.

"Err...I...well, seeing as you're alone, and considering what type of place this is...it's only proper that we look together.", he attempted. He didn't really know why he had offered to go with her, actually.

"'Proper'? That's the stupidest reason I've ever heard, Kaiba, but honestly, I appreciate your offer anyway. ...Well, let's shut up and get moving, shall we?"

"Right...."

Exchanging an odd look, Mai and Seto continued down the narrow street, not sharing another word.

.........

.........

.........

Joey shivered as the men continued their revolting assault on his body, which they apparently couldn't get enough of. They had been going at for hours, preventing him from passing out by shoving rags drenched with foul chemicals in his face. His body felt as if it had been ripped in half, and the incessant, not-so-gentle ramming from whoever was on top of him at that point did not fail to make the feeling worse with each passing second.

His voice was hoarse from screaming. At first, they struck him when he cried out, but after a short while it became obvious that it didn't really make a difference. No one was around to hear him, and if anyone did, they wouldn't give a damn anyway.

Joey attempted to focus on something in his sundinndings to distract his mind and body from the horrible event he was experiencing, as he had been trying to do the entire time. However, his feeble efforts were once again crushed when a particularly violent thrust made him see stars, which made it very hard to think about anything but the pain. He felt his body pour out more blood, adding to the ever-growing pool beneath him.

It was at this moment that Joey knew he was going to die.

.........

.........

Mai looked at Seto apprehensively, her body tensing and her eyes widening as a distant, but nonetheless bloodcurdling scream erupted into the night air. He returned the glance, nodding hastily, and the two immediately began to run in the direction that the cry had originated from.

More far-off wails could be heard as they continued to run. As the screams slowly became clearer, it was evident that they belonged to Joey.

Mai became frantic as the cries became louder, and broke into a mad dash, sprinting towards the sounds with tears running down her cheeks.

"Oh my God, oh my God!", she shrieked repeatedly, stricken with horror at the events that were unfolding around her.

Seto was beside himself with fear as he ran as fast as he could, trying to keep up with Mai who was clearly experiencing a massive adrenaline rush. He almost didn't even want to know what was happening, because he knew that whatever it was, it was his fault. His mind brooded on this thought as he continued on. Watching Mai disappear into an alley a few hundred feet ahead, his body jolted to a halt when a high-pitched, feminine scream filled the air.

She'd found him.

His eyes widened as he broke into a run once more, and listened to the new stream of cries that emanated from his destination.

"Get the FUCK off him! ...I SAID GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!!!", she sobbed, her screams carrying a distinct edge of hysteria.

Seto bounded into the alley, gasping for air, as he hadn't gotten a chance to breathe in a while. However, he found himself choking when whatever breaths he managed to muster became caught in his throat at the horrific scene before him.

First of all, his puppy was lying naked in a pool of his own blood, pale as death and gazing up at them with a mask of pure agony on his face. Second, there was a trio of men -molesting- him, who obviously couldn't care less about the crying woman behind them. Lastly, Mai, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, had pulled a gun out from her vest, and was now aiming it at the men, her hands shaking wildly.

Seto's eyes widened as Mai fired a shot blindly; he silently prayed that she hadn't just done something really, really stupid.

Luckily, she didn't hit Joey, or anyone else for that matter. But she certainly succeeded in getting his attackers off him, who stared dumbly at her for several moments as she aimed at aga again. They then quickly grabbed their clothes and dashed out of the alley, leaving Seto and Mai dumbfounded and in total shock.

Mai began wailing again, dropping to her knees as the gun fell from her hand.

"BASTARDS!", she screamed, sobbing as she crawled to Joey's side.

She reached over to him, intending to bring him into her lap, but stopped when he screamed in pain when she touched him.

"Joey...", she whispered, and settled for cradling his head. His eyes rolled up dazedly, their usual warm honey color now a dull, lifeless brown. He stared up at her for several moments, his eyes trying to focus on the collage of shapes that loomed over him.

"...Mai....?", he croaked, daring to believe that it was really her.

"Joey! ...Oh, God, Joey....", she cried, clutching his body tighter, oblivious to the waves of pain she was causing him. He continued to stare at her, but lost focus on her again as his eyes began to roll into his head.

"Joey...! No, no....please stay wit, Jo, Joey! ...I...I love you. I love you!", she yelled, now sobbing again.

That caught his attention. She...loved him? It was seemed too good to be true, but...he had to tell her. He forced his eyes open, pushing away the urge to pass out.

"...Igggh....uch-", he attempted, his words sounding incoherent as they were drowned by the blood that was bubbling up his throat and pouring out the sides of his mouth. Mai attempted to shush him, worried that he was hurting himself, but he ignored her, and continued to try to convey his message to her.

"....I...", Joey managed to say, after several failures. Mai listened earnestly, desperate to know what on earth was so important that he had to say. Joey looked up at her once more, his chocolate orbs locking onto her amethyst ones with an unmistakable gleam of determination. With a sickening lurch, he forced whatever wanted to swim up his throat to stay down, and very slowly and carefully formed his words with his dry, bleeding lips.

"I love you.", he breathed, his voice hardly a whisper. He wished more than anything that he good yell it out, so that all the world could hear, but at the moment, it was the best he could give. He watched Mai's face for a short moment, before shuddering violently and shakily exhaling as he gave himself up to the darkness that he had gotten to know so well.

Seto, who had been standing nearby in stunned silence the entire time, watched as Mai frantically shook Joey. But he no longer cared about what was happeni

He loved her.

He...loved...HER...Mai.....not him. Why...?

"What are you doing?!", Mai screamed at him, now covered in Joey's blood, who she was now holding in her arms. "He's still alive! Call an ambulance...do SOMETHING!"

Seto snapped out of his depressive daze and nodded numbly at Mai, reaching shakily for his cell phone and instructing his driver to bring the limo to their location. Stiffly, he turned his back to the pair on the ground and trudged out of the alley, feeling as if he had been stabbed in the heart.

..........

Hey there! ^^
Ie yoe you enjoyed this fic! It's taken hours...and hours...and ....hours- to write.
Well, it's not done yet. This fic is published on fanfiction.net too, only its chapters are divided correctly instead of being smashed together in one big chapter like this. (it's really supposed to be 6 chapters long here)
Well, now I'll update this normally, as I update it on ff.net.
But the next chapter will be MUCH shorter than this, of course. This entire fic is over 22,000 words long, but the chapters from here on out will be about 4,000-5,000 words long.
Okie-dokie, that's all! ^_^

Hope ya like!