"Are you satisfied?"
Kaiba pondered the question a bit before turning his head to the side to glance at Joey who was now sitting up with his hands on the floor to support his limp and quivering body. His arms were buckling under his weight and he soon fell back down onto the floor.
The brunette advanced towards the door, slid it open, and took a step outside before answering, "Quite."
He shut the door behind him and leaned up against the wall next to it. He stared at his hands and saw blood underneath his fingernails, staining them. He brought his hands up to his face and leaned his head back against the cold wall.
This was what he wanted right? He wanted to see the blond weakling scream and cry and have that stupid smile wiped off of his silly little face. But if that was really want he wanted then why was his body being overtaken by the feeling of such pure guilt?
The hallways were eerily quiet and all that Kaiba could hear was the distant sobs of the man he just broke.
/-/
Chapter 2: Father
Joey's body was shaking violently on the cold hard floor. He bit his lip, tearing into the skin. His body was overwhelmed by immense pain and he couldn't stop himself from. He sat up slowly and winced as pain shot up his back. The blond let out a shaky sigh once he finally managed to sit up properly and made a move to stand up.
It took way longer than expected but he was finally on his feet. Joey rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and pulled up his pants. He fixed his shirt and limped to the door ever so slowly. He cursed himself for being so slow and eventually made his way out the building.
Joey collapsed on the sidewalk once he was out of school property. He made an attempt to stand but his legs refused to listen to him. After trying and failing a couple more times he gave up and began to inch himself towards a nearby stone building. Once he reached it he propped his back against it and rested his head back on the cold stone wall.
He examined his wrists and noticed that they were bruised. He brought a hand up to his neck and the placed the other on his stomach.
'I'm probably bruised here too,' he thought, hissing as the inflicted areas throbbed with pain. 'Shit.'
His eyes fluttered closed and he began taking in deep breaths to try and calm his body down. Suddenly, he heard a car skid to a stop and the sound of a car door open and slam closed. Then he felt a looming presence and eyes watching him. For a while he ignored it thinking that it was just some random stranger stopping to stare and see if he was alive. However, quite some time passed and he still felt like he was being watched by someone so he cracked open an eye to see who it was.
Both his eyes shot open when he realized who was standing in front of him.
"Is that you, Mai?" he stuttered, unable to find the right words.
She smiled and nodded slightly. Her eyes looked over and her smile eventually faded from her flawless face when she saw the condition that he was in.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
Joey cringed and looked away from his dear friend. Her voice was full of concern and he most certainly didn't need her to worry about him. She sat down beside him and rested her hand on his shoulder. Joey flinched and shook her hand off of him, surprising her. She raised an eyebrow and examined her friend. She looked at him with a horrified look on her face when she noticed his neck was bruised and his shirt was stained with small streaks of red. She grabbed his hand and the sleeve of his uniform fell slightly to reveal the bruises around his wrists and she let out a gasp.
"Joey?"
The blond male shook his head and tried to push her away from him but she wouldn't budge. Instead, she grabbed his arm and swung it over her shoulders and attempted to help him stand.
"I was passing through the neighborhood and saw you just sitting here," she began, placing her other hand on Joey's waist to support him as he stood, "Get in my car I'll drive you home."
Joey walked over to the vehicle with Mai's help and got in the passenger seat of her brightly colored car. He heard her heels tap as she walked over to the other side to get in. The blonde beauty started up her car and looked over at Joey who was staring down at his feet. She impatiently tapped her finger on the steering wheel to get Joey's attention. He teen looked at her questioningly and she said, "I need you to give me directions to your house you idiot."
"Oh right."
He looked back and forth between the front window and the back window and frowned.
"I think you go forward to the end of the street then turn left but-"
"Forward then left got it," she exclaimed as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal. Joey's head reeled back and hit the back of the seat. He recovered quickly but before he had a chance to yell at her for her horrible driving she was already at the end of the street.
'I'm going to die today,' Joey thought, bracing himself as Mai turned the corner.
/-/
Mai Valentine pulled her car up to Joey's driveway. She stopped the engine, pulled her key out of her car, and grinned at her friend who looked like he was melting out of the seat.
"Well? We got here pretty fast don't you think?" she said, winking at Joey.
Joey slowly turned to face her. His eyes were wide open with his teeth chattering and hands clinging to the seat belt for dear life. The blond took in a deep breath then yelled, "You crazy old hag! You were trying to kill me!"
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her.
"Excuse me did you just call me old hag? I should kick you so hard in the balls right now for that you moron!" she shouted, spitting onto Joey's face in the process.
He wiped the saliva off of his face with the sleeve of the shirt mumbling, "Watch it you're spreading your gross Harpie germs onto me."
Mai rammed her forehead against Joey's who let out a surprised cry and clutched his head.
The woman released his shirt and crossed her arms. She glanced back at her friend and noticed the small bloodstains on his shirt once again. She grew uneasy and when he recovered from the head butt that she had given him she pulled him into a warm hug. Joey remained still and grew quiet and they stayed like this until she said, "Tell me what happened."
He pushed her off gently, opened the door, and stepped out of the car. He slammed the door shut and motioned for her to come inside of his house with him. She got of the car quickly and followed him inside.
"Can you walk?" Mai asked, reaching for his arm. He nodded and swatted her hand away.
"I'm fine," Joe said, reaching into his pocket for his key. He opened the front door and held it open for his friend to walk in first before going inside himself.
Once inside Mai immediately grabbed the bottom of his shirt and said, "Take your shirt off."
"Excuse me?"
She raised his shirt a little more and repeated, "Take your shirt off, now, Wheeler."
He turned away from Mai but she stopped him by grabbed his face and holding it in place.
"Look at me," she demanded, looking into Joey's dark eyes.
He looked at her.
"I want to help you," she said, removing her hand, "You're bleeding Joey."
Mai pointed to a bloodstain on his shirt and asked, "Why are you bleeding? Why are you bruised? Why are you limping? Why, Joey, why won't you tell me anything?" Joey opened his mouth to say something but Mai cut him off, "Were you beat up by someone?"
At that, he fell to his knees and clutched his shoulders and his body began trembling. He couldn't tell her that he was raped he just couldn't. She wouldn't look at him the same way ever again. Joey looked up at his friend and his dry lips began to quiver.
Mai's eyes widened and she fell down to her knees to comfort her friend. She placed a hand on his back and ran her hands through his blond hair. He rested his head on her small shoulders and felt his body slowly calming down with her touch.
"I'm sorry," she began, "That was it right? I'm sorry."
She rubbed Joey's back gently as he leaned against her silently. Her eyes traced the bruises on his neck and the wounds on his upper shoulders and said, "Let me fix you up. Where's you medical kit?"
Joey pulled away from Mai and gestured towards the room behind her. "Kitchen, the first drawer you see." Mai nodded and walked to the kitchen.
Joey shrugged off his uniform jacket and dropped it to the floor. He unbuttoned his undershirt with shaky hands and the cuts on his torso came into view. His mind replayed the moments where Kaiba raked his sharp nails across his chest and torso, tearing at his skin painfully. He shook his head and ran his hand over the scratch marks and winced as he felt them burn. Ashamed, he buttoned his shirt back up.
The phone rang loudly next to Joey's ear and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He glared at his home phone for a moment before looking at the caller I.D. He immediately smiled when he saw who it was and picked up the phone.
"Hey there Serenity," Joey said happily.
Serenity let out a small giggle and replied with, "Hi there brother."
Joey's expression softened and for a moment he forgot about the pain inflicted on his body. He heard a distressed sigh come from his sister and he asked what was wrong. Serenity paused for a moment and Joey was starting to get concerned.
"Are you okay?" His sister grew quiet and Joey asked again.
"Is father okay?" Serenity asked as her voice began to crack. Joey's eyes dilated and he nearly dropped the phone. He stood there completely still and tried to understand what his little sister just said.
'Is dad okay? He's at work why wouldn't he be okay?' He started to laugh to himself. 'I saw him this morning when I woke up. He patted my back before he left for work. I don't understand why he wouldn't be okay.'
"Joey? Are you… laughing?"
"Yeah I am Serenity. Why wouldn't dad be okay? He's at work at the moment."
"Joey! I heard from mother this morning that he got into this horrible accident this morning," she started saying as she began to sob on the other line. "She said that he was in the hospital. They called her and told her directly that he was at St. Benedicts Hospital! I thought you would know more about it. Where have you been, Joey?"
The phone slipped out of Joey's hands and landed with a loud thump on his wooden floor.
Mai returned into the room carrying a white box with a red cross on it. She held it up proudly and said, "I finally found it!" She looked at her friend with a grin and walked towards him. "Go sit on a chair or something so I can bandage you and-"
Mai stopped dead in her tracks when Joey faced her with tears streaming down his bruised cheeks.
"What happened?" she asked as she looked back and forth between the phone on the floor and Joey.
"Dad… accident… in hospital," he stammered, "Have to see if he's okay. "
Joey turned around and noticed that his front door was still wide open. He apologized quickly to Mai and ran out of his house.
"Wait!" Mai called out to her friend only to realize that he had already disappeared from her sights. Concerned, she picked up the phone on the floor and said, "Hello?"
"Is that you, Mai?"
Mai tossed the first aid kit aside and sat down phone in hand. "Serenity, dear it's been a while."
"Yeah," Serenity sniffled before continuing, "How are you?"
"I've been fine myself. Can I ask what you and Joey were just talking about?"
Serenity let out a shaky sigh. She paused for a brief moment to catch her breath and said, "Mai, our father was involved in a car accident this morning. He was sent to the hospital and the hospital called my mother to inform her about it. Apparently Joey didn't know about it since he got really quiet when I told him."
Mai bit her lip.
'The moron just bolted out of the house' she thought, directing her attention to the wide open door. 'He's going to injure himself even more. What the hell is he thinking? He can't run or walk properly when his body is in that condition.'
"Hello? Mai, are you still there?"
"I'm here."
The older woman ran her fingers through her long blonde locks. She stood back up and said to her friend, "Serenity, babe, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut our conversation short."
"What? Why?"
Mai stared at Joey's messy and slightly bloodied jacket sprawled on the floor. She kicked it to the side with her foot before responding with, "Serenity, your brother is an idiot."
/-/
At the very top room of the Kaiba Corps tower sat the one and only Seto Kaiba. His eyes were closed and his arms were crossed as he tapped his foot on the bottom of his desk. He was waiting the man responsible for his new deck of cards to come through the door and deliver them to him. In front of his desk sat five, much older gentlemen who were beginning to sweat from nervousness.
The men were talking amongst themselves quietly when Kaiba angrily slammed his fist on top of his desk. One of the men fell back on his chair while the others stared at the president of the corporation wide eyed. Kaiba opened his eyes and shot each and every single one of them a glare. They quickly looked away from his gaze and stared at the carpeted flooring instead.
"Where is the damn guy?" Kaiba growled.
One of the men raised his hand and said, "He's just running a bit late, sir, I'm sure he'll show up soon."
Kaiba got up from his seat and walked over to the group of men. He towered over in front of the man who had just spoken and stated, "He has been over three hours late. His order was to retrieve the cards and deliver them to me after I was released from detention. What was this about running a little late?"
The man panicked. He rose up from his seat and bowed. "I'm sorry sir! Please forgive my insolence!"
The brunette scoffed and just as he turned away the door to his room flew open. A middle aged man with a tattered suit, a bandaged up head and an arm cast limped into the room with a briefcase in hand. He gave the group of men a small nod as he limped passed them and handed the case to Kaiba. He gave the president a small smile but it quickly faded when Kaiba stared at him with cold eyes.
"And just what exactly happened to you, Mr. Randelle?" Kaiba asked as he looked over the man.
Mr. Randelle backed up just a bit before saying, "I'm sorry mister president. I got involved in this really bad accident in the morning and was just released from the hospital temporarily about 30 minutes ago."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "A car accident, you said?"
He nodded.
The teen let his mind wonder for a bit. He recalled hearing something similar to that somewhere before but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Wait.
'Joey rubbed the back of his head, smiled, and said, "It's not our fault. There was a car accident and it was hectic outside."
The teacher cleared his throat before he spoke, "Excuse my delay. There was this horrible accident that I happened to be caught up in you see…"'
He overheard the dog talking about it in the hallway with his friends. The teacher was talking about it too but he wasn't paying much attention to it because he was too busy staring at…
He diverted his attention away momentarily and felt his face heat up. He quickly recovered and looked back at the man who just arrived. "I see. And do you have any proof of this so called accident so I know that you're not lying?"
Mr. Randelle had opened his mouth to say something but shut it and looked over at the group of men.
Kaiba took a step towards him. "Tell me, why shouldn't I fire you right at this spot for being over 2 fucking hours late to an important meeting?"
Mr. Randelle began to back up slowly. He shook his head and pleaded with the brunette. "Please no! I need this job!" He tried to recover bits and pieces of the events that occurred that very morning and began to yell them out.
"An old truck reared off of a lane and smashed into an oncoming car!" Kaiba stopped his advance.
"I was driving right behind that oncoming car and I smashed right into it! Then two other cars swerved to get around me but ended up hitting the truck instead! The ambulance came but they couldn't get the guy in the truck out because the door was bent inwards.
"Then as the ambulance moved away to call the fire department another car was driving along… I think he or she was talking on their cell phone or something and they hit the area where the driver was. I swear mister president I'm telling the truth! It was one of the most horrible things I've ever witnessed!"
The men began to chatter amongst themselves.
"The man in the truck is dead for sure." One said.
"What a horrible story." Another man said.
Kaiba looked over at the men and they silenced themselves. He walked around his desk and sat down on his chair once again. He placed the case full of new cards to the side and pulled out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. The brunette then motioned for Randelle to come over to his desk which he obeyed.
"Tell me the names that you overheard and the hospital that you received care at."
Mr. Randelle brightened and he said, "You care about me sir! Oh I'm so happy!"
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "No, actually I don't give a shit about you. I just need witnesses and names as actual proof so I can decide whether or not to fire you."
"Oh." The middle aged man frowned.
"Give me some names you idiot."
Said person ran his good hand through his hair messily and replied, "I was at St. Benedict's hospital. I overheard the paramedics talking and apparently one of the drivers, his name was something, something, wheeler…"
"What did you say?" Kaiba said, snapping the pencil he was holding in half.
Randelle jumped back. "The truck driver, I said his last name was Wheeler or something! I don't know! He was basically chanting something about a kid named Joey. I can only hear so much you know. He was probably borderline dead and was talking to ghosts."
Kaiba crumpled up the paper in his hand and tossed it aside. He pointed at the doorway and said in a low voice, "Get out."
"Pardon me?"
Kaiba grabbed the lamp situated on his desk and yanked it off of its wire. He threw it at Randelle and narrowly missed his head. He let out a yelp and fell to the ground in shock.
"I said, Get out." The brunette looked over all of the men in his room. "All of you, now."
They scattered out of his room and shut the door behind them as they went.
Kaiba looked at his hands and saw that they were shaking. He brought them closer to his face and saw that there was still dried blood underneath his fingernails from scratching up Joey's body. He brought his hands over his eyes and snarled. Images of the blond and his bruised up body flashed through his mind like an endless slideshow and the longer it went on the more Kaiba felt something inside of him stir.
He brought his hands to his head and tugged on his hair in frustration. He kicked the desk, cursing as he felt pain course up his leg.
He leaned far back on his chair and yelled, "God damn it."