Yeah, I know I said I had finished this, but the reviews and feedback I have gotten from you, my loyal readers, has changed my mind. I may not be able to update as fast as I normally do, perhaps semi-daily from now on at best (Although I love writing, I've got college as well), but I'll try to update as much as I can and give you more stories to read. Thank you all, my readers. Because of your support, I still want to write for all of you.

                                                                        ~M

            Joey

            I had no clue where I was, only that it was dark, and that I was surrounded by a circle of women who were chanting in some odd language that I'd never heard before. They held hands and spun around chanting like idiots until their leader came up to me.

            "Poor man." She said with a sneer. "Let's see what you're made of. You'll become my servant yet." She grabbed the sides my head with her cold, pale hands. Almost immediately after she touched, my mind felt like it was on fire.

            "Interesting." I heard her say through the blinding pain. I couldn't move, my arms and legs were bound and splayed out like I was on a sacrificial altar, which I may have well been on. So I shut my eyes and tried to drown out the pain, but it was inside of my mind; no other part of my body hurt. It felt like her long, bony, pianist-like fingers were probing every inch of my brain.

"She will betray you." I heard her voice through the pain. "This woman that dominates your mind, she will. She is fickle and vain."

"Get the fuck outta my mind!" I shouted.

"Defiance? Let's see how long you last." She pushed her hands harder against my head, and the resulting pain came into my mind. I could barely breathe, and tears were streaming down my face, almost as if abandoning my face in fear of the fire that would consume them.

"You know as well as I do that she will not stay. She is flighty and aloof. Too spirited to be bound to one man." I kept hearing her talk. How could I hear her so clearly through the blazing inferno of pain?

"Fucking bitch!" I cursed, trying to get her away. "You talk about her again and I'll rip you a new one." I had to get her to stop; her poisonous words were winning a battle against my own thoughts.

"A stubborn one, all men are that way. You won't last long." She dug her nails into the side of my head, and I was sure that blood was oozing out.

"No!" I shouted. "Mai would never do anything like that. Mai would never betray me!"

"You're too arrogant. Look now at a vision of the future." I felt the pain subside briefly as an image played in my mind. It was Mai and me, and we were hugging.

"I think your vision of betrayal is busted." I cracked. But then, I saw a flash of steel in Mai's hand, and I watched my eyes bug out. The me in the vision gave out a yelp, and Mai stepped away, and I watched myself with a dagger stuck in my chest. My T-shirt started soaking in blood, my skin started turning pale. I watched the vision of me drop to his knees, then collapse on the ground lifeless. And then, I saw Mai smile.

"This…" I was trying to fight it; this was just some trick the fucking witch was pulling.

"No!" I shouted again.

"Believe it, fool boy. She seeks only to benefit herself." Her voice sounded again, and with it came the searing pain.

"You're just trying to screw with me, that ain't real!" I shouted, shouted because I was trying to hear myself over the pain. But then, why did I doubt what I said. I knew Mai wasn't the type of person to be bogged down by the simple things, she was all about extravagance. That was one of the reasons I enjoyed being around her; she was never dull. I had always questioned whether she liked me, because she was not always sincere with her attitude. Was this vision true, if not literally then metaphorically? Would she leave me, if not with a knife in my chest, then with a broken and jagged heart?

Mai

God, where was Joey? I knew that he had been abducted by that shit-tacular cult that hated men, but I had been searching this creepy nightmare place for an hour, and there was no trace of Joey.

Then I heard him screaming.

"Joey, where are you!" I shouted. "I'm coming!" From the sounds of the pain, I don't think he would have heard me over his own screams, but I still had to try. Following his voice, I found a secret passage to some kind of basement or other. Down the stairs I climbed, punching robed women whenever they came up towards me. They fell down in heaps, and I eventually found my way to a chant circle of women. Joey was in the center, with a woman standing over him, her hands dug into his head like she was trying to rip out his brain.

"Joey!" I shouted. No response from him, but the woman turned around.

"You are too late, woman. I have poisoned his mind. He no longer thinks of you as anything but an enemy."

"Fucking bitch!" I shouted, just like Joey would say. "What makes you think you can break what the two of us share?" I demanded.

"Why don't you look into his mind yourself?" The woman asked. "The platform he is on possesses the magic capable. You can if you put your hands on his head. Come and see my handiwork, come and see the destruction of his mind." I was reminded of Marik, how he fucked with me and Joey helped me. Now it was time for me to do the same. I grabbed Joey's head.

"It's me, Joey. It's Mai. Come on, snap out of this. You're not so weak as to get screwed up by some bitch digging in your mind and planting falsehoods." I said. Once I grabbed his head, I felt a surge of pain, like my skin was being painted with napalm. But I started seeing images in his mind. Images of him and me. I saw an image of me stabbing him, and I nearly let go out of fear. I wanted to speak to the woman, but I was still in Joey's mind. I couldn't leave him like that.

"Joey, don't believe any of this. This is all fake. I would never betray your heart. Please, Joey, listen to my voice, and snap out of it." I was pleading, I had never pleaded before, especially not to him. But I did it freely, anything to stop him from seeing these false images. Images like this could scar him for life, and I didn't want that to happen. He was too important to me to just throw away.

Joey

I felt myself bodiless, lost and alone. All around me was searing pain and the image of Mai's smile as she stabbed me. I couldn't ignore it, like my eyes were being forced open. I couldn't fight it, and I felt myself shrinking, the bitch's visions overtaking my thoughts.

"She…she will betray me." My mind rationalized. Yes, she would.

The part of me that still disbelieved was trying to force itself to come forward.

"No!" I shouted. "This is a damn fake!" It was like throwing a clod of dirt until a tornado, but it still kept shouting.

Mustering all of my strength, I tried to break the spell. Despite all my fear of the pain, and the image that seemed more and more true every second, I summoned up all my courage, as much force as I could muster going into my voice.

"I…I love Mai!"

Mai

I felt something, something rushing by me like a car that speeds by. It was Joey's voice, and it told me he loved me. I knew he did, but we had never said it to each other. This wasn't the time to hold onto my pride, or my dignity, or anything like that. This was my chance to break the illusion forever. I knew that I was in his mind, so I tried to move forward towards the sound of the voice, trying to move despite the searing pain assaulting my limbs, the pain of that woman's spell poisoning Joey's mind.

There! There he was. Crouched on the ground, fighting a losing battle. I went over to him, and cradled his body in my arms. He looked like he had used all of his energy to shout, and now his very image was fading, being overtaken by her spell. I held him close, and whispered into his ear, hoping that it would be enough.

"I love you too."

Joey

My eyes opened. I wasn't being tormented by my own mind anymore, I was back in the real world, and Mai was standing over me like the woman had done before. She went into my mind, she broke the spell.

"What? How?" The bitch who cast that spell on me said. Mai let go of my head and walked over to that bitch, smiling wickedly as she punched the bitch into unconsciousness, the chant circle of women fleeing in fear. She came over to me, and undid the bonds on my arms and legs.

"Can you walk?" She asked.

"Eugh, not really." I said. She turned around.

"Get on my back." She said. With difficulty, I maneuvered myself to climb on her back, my arms wrapped around her chest. It was hard not to feel a bit awkward considering where my arms were, but Mai didn't appear to give a damn, so I shouldn't either.

"How do you feel?" She asked as she ascended a set of stairs.

"Physically, fine, but my mind feels like it's been raped." I said. There was still fire from that spell in my mind, but the images of Mai stabbing me were fading, being replaced by images that I know were real.

Mai holding me in her arms. Mai whispering in my ear.

Mai loving me too.