Author Notes: This would have replaced a chunk of Chapter 13 of "Rock Bottom." This scene happens in the version of the story where Gozaburo is especially sadistic and used a poisoned whip on Seto, thus sending him to the hospital. This is as far into that scene before I gave up on the idea, deciding that I'd already tortured Seto enough.


When Ryou and the others arrived at his house, they went inside to find it empty: no Mrs. Bakura, no Marik, and no Seto. Ryou found a note on the fridge that contained a message that sent most of them packing back into Joey's car.

"Took Seto to St. Mark's Hospital on 7th. Call me when you get home. ~Mom"

After the cramped car ride to Ryou's home, they decided it'd be better—and safer—if they didn't all go to the hospital at once. Anzu and Yugi had offered to stay behind with Serenity—Ryou would have left Amane behind as well, but none of them knew sign language, so he felt it would be better for her to stay with her brother. Joey promised to come pick them up as soon as he dropped the others off at the hospital, then he left with Ryou, Mokuba, and Amane. As Ryou called his mom to ask what was wrong and Joey drove them to the hospital the quickest way possible, Mokuba and Amane held hands in the back seat, sitting right next to each other even though they didn't need to. When Ryou hung up, Mokuba spoke right away.

"What's wrong with Seto?" he demanded, squeezing Amane's hand as anxiety gripped his young heart.

"My mom says that he started running a high fever around mid-day, so she took him to the hospital to make sure that he would be alright. They're giving him medicine, so he's going to be alright, Mokuba. Don't worry."

Joey glanced over at Ryou, wondering just how sugarcoated that information was. Judging by the Brit's pensive expression, quite a bit of it. Ryou adjusted the speaker volume, turner up the music in the back speakers while turning it down up front.

"They can't figure out what's wrong." He whispered his confession to Joey, feeling obligated to at least tell HIM the truth. "He wasn't sick last night, he was hurt. I don't know what happened, I don't even know if my parents know what happened, but he was hurt so badly that by the time he got to our house he couldn't walk anymore."

Joey's mouth was drawn in a hard line as he felt the guilty tug to share what he knew.

"He was hurt last week too, though right?" he asked. Seto had told him about his conversation with Mr. Bakura, so he knew that Ryou knew about that, at least.

"Yeah, but this was a lot worse. Hey… how did you know about that?" Little red flags were going up in his mind as Ryou realized that something more was going on.

"He… told me," Joey answered, his eyes on the road as he continued to drive.

"What do you know that I don't?" Ryou asked, eyes growing wide.

"I know… more than he would want me to tell you," Joey said in a low voice, and Ryou didn't think he'd ever seen Joey so serious before. "I'd tell you, but it's not my place to say."

"Joey!"

"I'm sorry, but I promised I wouldn't!" the blond apologized as he turned into the parking garage of the hospital. "If I break my promise, he'll never trust me again." Joey sighed as he thought about how Seto would react to being betrayed. "I only recently got my act together, and I don't want to spoil this."

Ryou fell silent. He knew that Joey was right, and as much as he hated that Seto and Joey were keeping a secret from him, he had to accept that there was something Seto didn't want him to know.

"It's not because he doesn't trust you," Joey said quietly, trying to reassure Ryou. "He didn't even tell me himself, I had to figure it out on my own and confront him about it. He hated that I did, still kind of hates that I know, but he didn't have a choice but to trust me." Joey parked the car and turned the ignition off. "Alright, let's go find your brother, Mokuba," he said at a normal volume as they climbed out of the car.