Chapter Six

Ohmygod o.o You people spoil me too much. But I like it!

The next sun rose with reluctancy, shattering the semi-peaceful air that had been forced into play. No one wanted to wake up that morning; rather, let the dark bliss of night forever reign supreme. All of the cells were now allowed to remain open at all times, which made the burden of what was to come online slighter better, because now Joey could spend more time around Yugi and Mokuba didn't have to be alone.

But there were still rules to be followed. The lights still had to be out by eleven thirty, and wake-up call was still at the cursed hour of seven in the morning.

Ryou's wings had finally stopped growing around 2:00am, and Malik's scales had formed a couple hours later. Each boy dreaded the morning; would they be taken back for more experiments? Malik sighed in his sleep.

But there was one person who wasn't asleep at the dawn breaking hour of 6:00am. Tristan sat up from his place beside Duke, who muttered something inaduible under his breath as the other pulled away from the embrace. Tugging his dark coat tighter around his shoulders, Tristan stood and walked outside his cell. There was only one window in the dungeon that didn't belong to someone else's cell, but it was so small that it was barely noticeable against the dull coloring of the stone slabs.

His gazel eyes gazed boredly outside at the world to which he had once belonged. He sighed.

"Fucking Pegasus... bastard deserves whatever's coming towards his ass..." the seventeen-year-old muttered to no one inparticular. The trees outside seemed to blow with hesitance, almost as if they knew what was coming within the next few hours - perhaps, he thought, they did. Tristan gave the outside world one last, longing look before he turned around--

--to come face to face with Joey. He jumped. "I didn't know you were awake."

The blonde shrugged. "I could say the same for you."

"What're you doing up? You still have an hour to sleep."

"Couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about what happened to Ry and Malik. Tris, I'm worried about Serenity." And Yugi, he added silently.

"I'm worried about all of us, Joey. If what Ryou and Malik went through, what with growing wings and scales and shit, is any clue as to what's coming up, then I hate to imagine what'll happen to us. You, me, and Duke... A dog, wolf, and fox."

"You don't think we'll really be stuck here forever, do ya?" Joey asked his friend as he took a step closer to him, to better see his face. Tristan was a good four or five, maybe even six inches taller than him, he now realized, as he found himself having to look up to meet Tristan's eye. "I mean... there's gotta be a way outta here."

Tristan nodded. "I'm sure of it. Right now, though, the only hope we've got is that Marik and Bakura that Ryou and Malik keep on talking about."

Scoffing, Joey replied, "Yah, well, I dunno how reliable that really is. We don' even know these people and yet we're bettin' our lives on 'em."

He put his hands inside the pockets of his trenchcoat. "It's all we have right now..."

"Nnn..." Joey sound of agreement echoed throughout the dungeons. "Well, all I can say is that they betta come through."

Tristan sighed and leaned back against the stone wall, allowing the beams of moonlight to illuminate Joey's uncharacteristically serious face. "We just have to keep holdin' our heads up, buddy. And you have to be there for Yugi, the same way I do for Duke."

The blonde sent his friend an odd look. "How did you know about me and Yugi?"

Laughing, the taller replied, "You think I don't notice these things? Sheesh... I've seen the way you look at Yugi." He turned and stared out the window once more. "Anyways, Joey, we'd better get back to sleep before that psycho catches us."

"Yeah." Joey agreed quietly. "See ya in the mornin'... or whatever, Tris."

"You too." Tristan gave a goodnatured smirk and ruffled Joey's messy blonde hair. "Oh, and Joey? Do us all a favor and try to stop sleeptalking."

Amber eyes widened in a flurry of emotions, mostly shock and humor, as their owner chased after the hazel-eyed boy. "I do not sleeptalk!"

"Welcome to round two of the Crawford Animangenics Research Lab's experiment! Today, we will be having two new people brought into the experiment room. Those names will be drawn at random," Pegasus pointed to a box next to his goblet of orange juice. "I will now draw the next two names for the experiment."

Duke made a sound of annoyance. "Will yku hurry up and get on with it? My breakfast's getting cold."

Pegasus, who seemed to have fostered immense dislike for the sassy raven-haired boy, glared in his direction. "It's a pity your name wasn't selected, Mr. Devlin. Otherwise, I would personally make sure that there would be an accident on the operation table."

"Really? Ya mean it?" Duke asked, raising his voice so that he sounded like a little girl, his jade eyes falsely wide. But his eyes darkened suddenly as he lowered his voice past its normal tone. "Yeah, well, we'll just see about that. You're getting in over your head, Pegasus J. Crawford. Playing a game you don't understand." Duke's hand travelled into his pocket and reappeared a moment later, holding his favorite die. "Taking chances before you know the consequences."

Pegasus gave a sharp laugh. "While some of what you said may or may not be true, remember, Dukey-boy, that I am the master and you the dog."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Everyone turned to Tristan in shock; he was usually the semi-quiet one in the background. But now his fists were balled up, his face red with fury.

"I swear to god, you better shut up about him before I really lose my temper and beat your motherfucking face in so bad that you'll be dead before I even get started!"

Serenity whimpered and hid behind Joey. She hated seeing her brother and his friends when they were mad; quite frankly, they terrified her when they were upset, even if they were usually very nice people. It seemed as if the pleasant disposition Joey, Tristan, and Duke had shattered the moment they became angry, replacing the goodnaturedness with a darkness so overpowering and enraged that it was deadly to anyone who crossed it.(1)

"You're a dead man, Pegasus!" Duke snapped, his jade eyes ablaze with cold fury. "Heh, Joey, Tristan, do you see what I see?"

Joey laughed harshly, despite the look that Serenity sent him. "Sure as hell do! Dead man walkin'!"

Pegasus was now starting to become slightly unnerved by the confidence with which his death threats were announced. He never suspected anyone would dare rebel against him once he started in with his mind games, but these boys were apparently unaffected. He thought back to when that Egyptian boy, Malik, had very well almost killed him. 'Perhaps I should be more careful around them?' His hand subconciously rubbed the skin that Malik had peirced. 'No, no, I am in control. The fools think they're in the driver's seat, when they're not even in the car.'

The smirk returned to his face. "We'll see, Mr. Wheeler... we'll see."

Joey scoffed and rolled his sharp brown eyes. "Yanno, you're always saying that, but we have yet ta see anything except you postponin' whatever in fuck it is you keep talkin' about."

Pegasus glared. "Hold your tongue, number one."

"Come again?" Joey taunted in mockery. "'Cause, unless I'm mistaken -- which I doubt I am -- you just called me by a number. What, is your memory so bad that you can't remember my name?"

"I said hold your tongue, Mr. Wheeler."

"Can you really not remember what ya wanna call me? Sheesh... pick one already. It's really gettin' annoying."

Pegasus' rage was rising very quickly right now, as he fought to keep his own temper under control.

"Mr. Wheeler, don't tempt me."

"Tempt you to what? Fuck yourself?" (2)

"Mr. Wheeler, hold your tongue."

Joey growled, becoming inpatient with Pegasus' non-concerned attitude. "Heh, fine, fine. It's a shame though, you have the emotional capacity of a rock."

Pegasus held up the slips of paper menacingly, and noted the split-second loss of confidence in those brown eyes. "Mr. Wheeler, for the last time... HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"

Croquet walked up and quietly took the papers from Pegasus' hand that shook with suppressed rage. "Will Mr. Mokuba Kaiba please step forward." The words were more like an order than a question.

Mokuba gulped and stepped forward, away from the motherly embrace Ishizu had been providing him with. His frame, roughly the same size as Yugi's, if not a bit lankier, made a shakey journey over to Croquet, who shoved him off to the side roughly. "And now for the final experiment of today."

Serenity noticed that Pegasus was looking at her with a smirk of victory. "Joey..."

Joey stepped infront of his sister and glared at Pegasus, shifting from an almost sadistic mode to 'Protective Big Brother' mode. "Leave my sister alone, you prick."

"Temper, temper, Mr. Wheeler."

"I swear I'll kill you if you harm her!" his thick Brooklyn-accent only increased the volume of his threat as he balled up his fists. "I'll send you straight to hell!"

Pegasus gave a carefree laugh and shook his hand dismissively. "I doubt you would actually kill me, Mr. Wheeler. You're big on words and quick to compete, but you're soft deep down. You don't have the guts to kill me."

Joey growled. "You wanna bet?! You don't know shit about where I come from! But you're bettin' your life on shit ya don' know!"

"So, if I gave you the chance, would you kill me? Cut my throat, maybe? Stab me in the heart? Or maybe beat me to death; let out all your bottled up anger in one attack. Or, perhaps, you're the swift kind of killer, and perfer a gun?"

"Don't test me," the blonde boy warned, his entire body shaking, "DON'T FUCKING TEST ME!"

Tristan, having known Joey for over ten years, could very easily sense the impending danger that was bound to come any moment if Pegasus did one more thing to further anger his best friend. He could almost feel the heated pressure building up inside Joey as he fought to control himself. "Don't lose your cool, man..."

"You should listen to your friend, Mr. Wheeler."

"PEGASUS...!" Joey's body trembled, though he knew he couldn't try and attack Pegasus while Tristan's ever-watchful eye was on him.

"What? Aren't you going to try and attack me? I'm totally open."

A smirk formed on Joey's lips, "Do you really think I'm that stupid? If there's one thing I learned from growing up on the streets, it's that you never trust your opponent. They've always got a way to fuck you over. What do you think I am?!"

"A dog. That's what. Step aside, Mr. Wheeler, it's time for us to take your sister in."

Joey's body started trembling, never a good sign. A low growl escaped this throat; his honey brown eyes were filled with a fury that not even Tristan had seen before. His hands were balled up into fists so tight that his knuckles had paled considerably as he fought to restrain the dynamite starting to explode within his very soul. "DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER!"

"So defensive, Mr. Wheeler..." Pegasus stated, keeping an eye on the shaking blonde. "Are you sure it's good for her safety?"

But the only reaction the older man got, however, was the anger in Joey's eyes burning even more passioinately. He felt screams bubbling up in his throat, so powerful that he almost couldn't control it. The rage was too strong, too overpowering for him to ignore it; too pure and too overpowering for him to try and contain it. "I'm warning you, you touch her and you die!"

Pegasus stepped forward until he was at eye-level with Joey; it was now he realized that the blonde was only just shorter than him, but the few centimeters made little difference. "Don't tell me what to do. You are not in charge. And you will be next," he motioned to bring his hand up, and instantly felt the shift as Joey tensed. Thin, pale fingers brushed close to Joey's skin, just missing his arm.

A deep growl tore up the younger's throat. Pegasus could feel the anger radiating off the boy and knew it was only a matter of time until he exploded. The blonde's eyes were closed.

"You are not in charge," he repeated.

Joey was biting his tongue hard enough to make it bleed. His eyes, usually a mischevious chocolate brown, had now gone almost black. Body almost entirely still, he stood as the center of attention for a few moments.

"Joey...?" Serenity asked carefully, tears building up in her eyes. Her hand rose delicately to touch his shoulder, but his own hand brushed hers away.

He opened his eyes, and he lost control.

Ryou whimpered in his sleep and curled up closer to the warm body next to him, burrying his face into the strong chest. Arms encircled his petite figure and pulled him close, whispering into his ear. "Shh... Ry... shh..."

A single brown eye opened sadly at the realization that the person wasn't Bakura, but Malik. "Malik?" he asked, his voice ruffled into the sandy-blonde's shirt.

"Shh." The voice whispering to him was protective and hurried. "It'll all be over soon."

"What...?"

"Ry, go back to sleep."

"Malik, what's wrong...? What's going on?"

"Ry, please. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you up later."

Before the British boy could reply, the doors to the dungeons darkened by lack of sunlight flew open. A body was tossed inside, followed by the slamming of the door. Ragged breathing was heard, but the few select curses made it obvious who the person was.

Ryou froze, then shifted behind Malik, whose lavender eyes were wide in suprise behind locks of light blonde bangs.

"...Joey...?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW?!"

Bakura picked up the slightly younger teenager by the collar with one hand, and slammed him up against the brick wall that made up one part of the alley they were in. He tightened his grip around the boy's throat, staring with apathy as the brunette's eyes bulged and he gasped for air. "Listen." Bakura said, his voice darker than usual, "You're not being useful to me. Either you tell me where this lab is right now, or I will kill you. Slowly."

"I - I don't know!" The boy shouted through gasps.

"Fool!" Bakura bashed the younger's head back against the brick wall. "Do not lie! Tell me anything you know, unless you want to die right fucking here, right fucking now." His dark eyes were alive with the shadowy presense of death.

"It... It's near... near the western border..." he passed out.

Bakura scoffed disapprovingly and tossed the stranger's limp body aside with disgust. "Pathetic."

Only partially satisfied with this new information, he made his way over to where he was supposed to meet Marik. Luckily, he could already see the outline of the tanned boy standing in the flooding light from the streetlamp.

He approached Marik with a sulky aura; one the other could sense. Bakura's sharp brown eyes only hardened more at the thought of what that damned Pegasus could be doing to his Ryou at this very moment, and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it.

"Well?" Marik asked, leaning back againt the pole with crossed bronze arms.

Bakura scoffed. "Western border. That's all the fucker told me."

Marik arched his eyebrow. "Tch. Be glad you got that."

"And that means what?"

"Everyone crossed the street whenever I came near them."

A sharp sound, like something between a laugh of humor and sarcasm escaped Bakura's pursed lips. "I can't blame them - what would you do if you saw a stranger approaching you these days?"

"Yeah. Guess so." Marik shrugged and pushed himself off the pole, his hair blowing in the slight wind.

"Let's go."

"Now?"

"Yes now, you idiot. It's best if we try to break in now, before it gets too light out. We'd get caught otherwise."

"No no no, that's not what I meant. Don't you realize that the western border is on the complete other side of town?" Marik pointed out.

Bakura glared. "So then let's get our asses into motion and start going."

Marik returned the gesture. "I was wondering when you were going to say that."

'Pegasus... you're dead.'

1 - I love Joey, Duke, and Tristan. But I think that they, like a few other characters, can be dangerous when pissed off like that.

2 - I'm sorry... (Snickers) I realize how funny that sounded once I finished this chapter, and I just had to point it out... (Hentai halo)

Okay, guys, I apologize immensely. September was a horrible month. I wanted to update in the beginning of September, but I went through about of depression concerning the death of my grandmother. I started school soonafter and the stress went from 1 - 100,000 in a day. I was busy for most of mid-September, and a few days ago I had a nervous breakdown because of stress. So I'm FINALLY getting this out. Thanks so much for reading, guys. I promise I'll be a better updater next time.

x Shori

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own anything YuGiOh, characters included, except for the plot of this particular fanfiction. If you have written or have seen a fanfiction like this around the site, I do not intend to copy anyone's work. I don't check the YuGiOh section that much anymore, so I don't know all of what's in it.

Note: Please do not ask me to pair you up with a character. This story has been hell for me to write, and I'm not going to change anything I have planned unless I see fit - especially pairings. I apologize for any inconvenience.