To answer the question, yes, none of these stories are related. It's just a series of Joey x Mai fics. No real order to them. Maybe when I get enough ideas for a full story, I can tie some of these together, but not now.
Joey
She was posed up there in a scene almost like the Crucifixion. I wasn't much of a praying person, so there wasn't any beauty or anything like that in this scene, just a crazy bastard trying to rile all of us, and he was doing an fucking good job if I could say so myself.
"Mai!" I called out to her. She was attached to a stone slab by an iron band at her waist and another a little below her neck. She had been trying to free herself, but with no success, up until a few minutes ago. I was shouting to her, but she wasn't listening. Couldn't she see or hear me? I had been shouting for her to pull herself together and get out of this mess, but she looked vacantly ahead of me, her gaze fixed on whatever was directly in front of her in that little world that is her mind. Was she looking at the villain, almost fearful to move because of the throwing knives that the man was carrying in his hands, or was something more sinister at work, was her mind sealed away like in Battle City before this.
I started to run up to her, only to find Tristan had grabbed me roughly by the collar.
"There's nothing you can do." He said. "I know you want to save her but you won't be able to if that sick asshole kills you before you can reach her."
"And what am I supposed to do?" I asked as the madman threw a knife at her, traveling at blinding speed until it lodged itself in her hair. That asshole was toying with us, practically provoking me to go up there, take the knife, and throw it back. I wanted to do that more then he could possibly comprehend.
"What you can do is not act stupid." Tristan returned. "I don't want to see her get hurt any more then the rest of us, but if both of you die because you risk your life to save her, then what's the point of that risk. This guy is clearly fucked up enough to kill the both of you then go drink a beer and play cards like nothing ever happened."
"And standing around here, while we watch the sadistic asshole throw knives at her, trusting that the next one won't hit is supposed to be the best alternative?" I demanded hypothetically, angrily grabbing Tristan's neck and forcing the taller man to my eye level.
"Who said it was preferable. I'm trying to keep us all safe."
"Well, Mai can't afford that and neither can I." I said.
"Mai doesn't want you to get hurt!" He shouted, desperate not to put me, the best friend he ever had since, well, ever, in danger. I liked how he was looking out for me like a big brother should, but I couldn't just leave Mai there, I'd never forgive myself, even if she did.
"Fuck what Mai wants! I gotta be selfish to help her and do what I want!" I shouted. I didn't think I was making much sense, but Tristan let go of my collar.
"Be…careful. If you make Serenity cry, I'll never forgive you." He said, his tone now completely serious. I had no intention of hurting Serenity, and she would understand, I think. She would know that even if I died here, it would be worth it if Mai were safe.
I threw myself in between Mai and the sadistic maniac; my body was the shield between the two. He looked at me and sneered.
"So, it seems that you can't keep your rational mind to yourself when she is in trouble. Very well, I was expecting this." He said, and he let one of the knives fly right at me. I saw it coming from a mile away, but if I dodged it, the thing would hit Mai. So instead, I just told the man to fuck himself as the knife whittled into my chest. The pain was amazing, but I was barely feeling it. Knowing that it was in me and not Mai was all I needed to know.
"So, that is the way you will act." He said. "I didn't expect you to come up with no shield but your own body, but this is amusing. I've never met anyone so stupid and reckless in all my years and it makes me excited."
"That's gross." I said, and was greeted with another knife to my chest. They didn't appear to go as deep as I thought they would, but I thought they'd nearly rip right through me.
A third knife, this one closer to my neck. I was getting really dizzy, my vision was failing, and I could barely breathe due to the pain. But I didn't move.
"Had enough yet?" He asked. I shook my head, and he threw a fourth knife, the blade lodging in my chest again, right near my heart.
"Jo…Jo…Joey!" Mai's voice was like a beacon that shattered the depths of the pain. "What…the…hell are…you…doing?" She demanded, trying to act like herself. I couldn't answer, I was barely able to acknowledge her by moving my neck, let alone speak.
"Joey, stop!" I heard someone say, Tristan or Tea probably. I felt a fifth knife enter me, and I nearly collapsed. I felt blood streaming down my chest and onto the ground, and I could see nothing before me but a haze. Was my life flashing before my eyes? If I was, I must not have been seeing it, or hearing anything else but a loud ringing in my ears. I felt someone come grab me by the collar, and something, probably another the bastard's knives, against my neck. I couldn't tell what he was doing, nor could I do anything about it if he was hurting Mai.
I cursed my weakness. "Mai, are you in trouble? If you are, please shout, I want to save you." My thoughts were about the only thing that I had now, so I ordered Mai to say something through telepathy. I cursed myself again. She was in trouble, my mind rationalized, and I can't protect her. I'm too weak to stand up and save her. I knew that I had knives sticking out of me, but that shouldn't have been able to stop me from saving her.
"Damn it, Wheeler." I told myself. "You're a dumb shit." My mind said. And that was the last thought that entered my mind.
MaiI was in a funk, I knew it. I had been trying to snap myself out of it, but that asshole with the knives must've pulled some of that black magic shit that those Ancient Egypt psychos did. But all I could see was Joey, Joey's stupid grin as he provoked the man with the knives, Joey's white T-shirt turning incarnadine with all of the blood and flesh, Joey not uttering a single scream or noise of discomfort to give the man satisfaction. Although I couldn't see the impact, it stuck out in my memory as if I had done so. It snapped me into reality, breaking the sick bastards spell. I was trying to free myself, but those iron bands held me tight. When Joey dropped to one knee, that was when the others reacted. Tristan came up to me with a power tool that I didn't recognize and started to cut the band around my neck while pulling a knife from the slab that held my hair in place. I was about to tell him to forget about me and go save Joey, when I saw Tea and Yugi already at his side. Where did the bastard go? How could I have lost track of him?
Tristan cut me free, and I dropped to the ground. I ignored his attempts to help me up and scampered like a puppy towards Joey. The hero had fallen down, but he at least made some effort to twist his body before he passed out, for he was lying on his back, the hilts of five throwing knives sticking up at me like Uncle Fester's bed of nails. I grabbed them and wrenched them out with all my strength, placing the damn things still close to us in case the bastard showed up again. Joey's chest was caked in blood, oozing from five different wounds. I tried pressing Joey's shirt on them, but it was too sticky and soaked with blood to be of any help. Tristan took off his jacket and we used it, desperately trying to stop him from bleeding. I was weeping, and crying, and I didn't fucking care who saw me. This was not the time to be holding onto my pride, as much as I would have liked too.
Our efforts appeared to work, and Joey stopped bleeding heavily. Tristan put Joey on his back while I grabbed the knives. I carried one in each hand, and if I saw the bastard who owned these again, I'd have to remedy the problem of him being allowed to breathe. We dragged Joey into the room, and laid him down. There wasn't any real medical equipment to use, but Joey's wounds had stopped majorly bleeding, although I would have wanted to give him a blood transfusion, because he probably needed.
Joey woke up when I was alone in the room. He sat up as if nothing had ever happened, and even I was impressed at his stamina.
"Your hair." He said, indicating the spot where the asshole's knife that cut my hair. I'm sure it looked like shit, but I didn't care about my appearance at a time like this.
Joey
"You should fix your hair." I said. I was so happy that she didn't appear to have any injuries I couldn't pay attention to my own. They hurt, hurt like a bitch, and the pain would stay with me for a while. Mai, with tears in her eyes, slapped me upside the head.
"Who gave you fucking permission to go do something that stupid?" She said, trying to save face.
"Me, and that's enough." I said, trying to brush the caked on blood off of my chest.
She grabbed my hand, grabbed it in a vice-like grip that I would have never been able to break.
"You told me…that I should never have to bear any of my pain alone." She said, looking at me straight in the eye. At this moment, I remembered, even though I knew it all along, that Mai Valentine was the most beautiful woman I'd ever met.
"Yeah, I said that." I said, grinning like a sheepish idiot. "You shouldn't. You should never feel alone when you're in pain."
"The same goes for you." She told me softly. And then, she pressed me close in a hug that had the same intensity of the grip she used on my hand. She was one hard lover, that was for sure.
I was no good at these types of things, and now didn't feel like the moment for something romantic. She had been crying heavily recently, been a target practice dummy for an asshole with a complex and knives, and had her mind fucked around with by that magic shit. I was scarred up, shirtless, and still had a huge-ass headache from all of the blood I lost. Yet she pulled me in close, close enough so that I could fear her heart beating. Hers was beating as fast as mine, and then she grabbed my face and kissed me. It was sudden, intense, our first real kiss. She took me by surprise with it; it wouldn't have mattered if I had that guys knives and enough black magic to blast the world, I wouldn't have been able to stop the moment from happening.
I didn't want to.