Chapter Seven

I'm so sorry for the horrible updatingness. I've been having extremely unbelieveable computer problems... though that might be partially my fault for hitting the damn thing with a hammer so many times. Oh well.

Here's your chapter!

Joey struggled into a sitting position. "The one and only."

"Damn, what the hell happened?" Malik asked as he cradled Ryou. "And why is there blood on your hands?"

Idly, the blonde observed the dried blood staining his skin. "Oh. That. Right. I went kinda psycho on Pegasus. He was threaning my sister. I wouldn't stand for that."

x-Flashback-x

He opened his eyes, and he lost control.

Joey leapt at Pegasus, eyes alive with hatred and burning with passion. Instantly, his hand was around Pegasus' throat; he dug what little nails he had into the wound marks Malik had left last time. He pressed his thumb and index finger fixedly against the jaw bone, grinning like a madman as Pegasus gasped for air. His free hand balled up into a fist, and hep unched Pegasus in the stomach, removing all the remaining oxygen out of his system.

"Don't - ever - fucking - touch - my - sister," he snarled, and when there was no response, Joey lifted Pegasus up by the neck and pinned him against the blue tiled wall.

"DID YOU NOT FUCKING HEAR ME?! ANSWER WHEN YOU'RE SPOKEN TO, DUMBASS!"

Somewhere in the background, Ishizu moved infront of Mokuba, eyes wide and lips slightly parted in shock.Tea gasped and covered her face. Mai bit her lip, shaking her head.

Pegasus struggled against the boy's alarmingly strong grip. With a fleeting glance, he noticed that Serenity was staring at Joey in horror and fear as she stood partially behind Tristan, who had decided to just let Joey vent out his anger and only step in if it looked as if Pegasus might actually die. Not like he cared, per se, but he didn't want that kind of guilt on his best friend. Duke seemed to have followed the same line of thought as Tristan, although he seemed more focued on making sure himself and Tristan didn't get injured.

Joey slammed Pegasus back up against the wall. "Fuckin' listen to me! You can't do this, do you under-fucking-stand me?!" He balled up his fist, ready to strike.

"GUARDS!" Pegasus gasped, voice weary.Almost instantly, men in uniformed green combat attire appeared in the lobby. There were about ten of them, that as soon as they entered the blue-tinted room, grabbed Ishizu, Mai, Tea, Serenity, and Mokuba by the shoulders or waist and removed them from the room. Serenity's cry as she was pulled out from behind Tristan and Duke caught Joey's attention, causing him to drop Pegasus to the floor.

"SERENITY!"

Joey sped past Duke, and tried to make it past Tristan, but the dark-haired boy grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back against his chest to better hold him still.

"Calm down, Joey, they won't hurt your sister."

Once the blonde had stopped struggling, Tristan carefully let go of him. "Damn, man, you sure did one helluva number on that guy."

"He deserved it. I went too easy on him." Joey muttered. "I shoulda killed the fucker."

Duke glanced over to Pegasus, who was now bleeding from the neck and lying limp. "Well, I don't think he has too much life left in him. He'll die either by one of our hands or by his own fuckin' stupidity."

Tristan laughed quietly. "That's pretty much the same thing, Duke."

"Joey...?"

A new voice, one much more innocent and soft than their own and one that brought their eyes down, broke in at this point. Joey looked down to see Yugi's face. "Yugi...?"

"Stop, Joey. Stop hurting him. I know you think he deserves it, and... and I guess I do too, but I don't want to see anyone die. Please stop, Joey... for me."

Joey sighed, unable to deny those beautiful eyes and their owner anything that was desired. Slowly, he unclenched his fists and took a few moments to let his anger seep out of his still-shaking body. After what seemed like hours--to Yugi, anyways--Joey let out a deep breath and shook the tension out of his shoulders.

Tristan decided to try and lighten things up. "Hey, man! That was great! You only took ten minutes this time, instead of twenty!"

Duke laughed, Yugi smiled weakly, and Tristan clapped Joey on the shoulder, but they all waited to see what the blonde's reaction would be: he hadn't spoken for just over ten minutes, and silence from him was rarely a good sign.

"...Wanna aim for nine and a half next time?"

x-End Flashback-x

Ryou and Malik stared at Joey carefully as if he might explode at any given moment. Finally, Malik spoke.

"...Yeah, you shoulda killed him."

Joey scoffed. "Don't I fuckin' know it."

Ryou sighed and sat leaning against Malik. "How much longer d'you think it'll take for Bakura and Marik to get here?"

Malik shrugged. "I dunno, Ry. I'm starting to think--" He was interrupted by the dungeon door opening. In walked Tristan, Duke, Mai, Ishizu, Tea, and Yugi. Joey craned his neck around the people coming in to try and spot Serenity. Not once did he catch a glimpse of her strawberry brown hair or hazel eyes. Yugi crawled into his lap as he searched for his sister.

"Joey?"

The blonde boy sighed and and looked into Yugi's eyes as he wrapped his arms around his small body. "Yugi."

"Joey... I... Serenity... They took her to be Changed... I--"

"--A horse, wasn't it? That's what he wantsta change her in to?"

Yugi sighed sympathetically. "Y-yes, Joey... They also took Mokuba."

Joey was silent for a few minutes. "When?"

"When... when you were attacking Pegasus. The guards, remember? At first, I thought they were just taking all the girls and Mokuba out of the room to bring them back here. But after they took you away, they told Tristan, Duke, and me to return to the dungeons with Mai, Ishizu, and Tea... I knew. I'm sorry Joey, I really am! I'm so sorry!" Yugi cried, clinging to
Joey's frame in apology. Tears leaked out of softly closed eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I can't believe this is happenin'. We're all gonna end up like Ry and Malik, aren't we, Yug'? Forced to
become somethin' we're not supposed to be. Changed. Transformed... mutated. Played with as if we're toys
that can be modified at will. This ain't right... We can't let him do this to us, we just... can't." Joey closed his eyes and rubbed a temple, furrowing his eyebrows.

Sadly, Yugi stared up at Joey's stony face, and lowered his head to rest against him.

Serenity stared at the bright white ceiling, ignoring the people buzzing around her as they prepared her for The Changing. She wanted so badly to have her brother by her side, but given what he had done to Pegasus, she doubted that was possible.

As she lay on the cold metallic table, possibly the same one that Malik or Ryou had been operated on, she continued to gaze up at the bright lights with teary hazel eyes. She drifted off into her own imaginary world where all was right, and she and her brother and his friends were back home where they belonged, where they were never at risk for anything bad happening. Suddenly, a soft cry reached her distant ears, and she instinctively looked over to see who had made the sound so scared and lonely. She was greeted by the light-coloured eyes of Mokuba, who, if she remembered correctly, had been assigned the kangaroo.

"Mokuba?" Serenity asked quietly.

The little boy sniffled as he watched the various doctors humming around the OR. "I don't wanna be Changed. I just wanna go home. I don't wanna be here in this awful place."

"Shh." She whispered as she extended her hand to squeeze his momentarily. "It'll be okay. I promise."

"How do you know?"

Serenity smiled. "'Cause if anything goes even mildly wrong, I know Joey'll make sure it's fixed immediately."

A man approached her; in his hands were two masks labled 'sleeping gas.' Serenity closed her eyes as the mask was placed over her face. "Don't worry about a thing, Mokuba. I'll be there when you wake up." (1)

-

The ocean sparkled under the mid-afternoon sun, a deep turquoise. It roared quietly, sang gently. White foam waters crawled on to the shore with power unmatched as they brought with them the salty sweet scent of the sea. It made him sleepy and reminded him of when he was young - when he was free. The breeze took away all of his troubles and carried him off to a distant land where he could relax forever and never have to worry about a thing. Far out into the water, where the curve of the ocean became a straight line, in that single, tiny spot, he saw a figure basking in the rich yellow sunlight.

'A dolphin? Mermaid?' He thought.

He gazed harder into the depths of the sea. The figure was slowly approaching him with arms outstretched - so it was a person. A few more seconds, and he could see long, silvery hair flowing behind her petite body.

Could it be...?

"...Mother...?"

Her soft, angelic smile widened gently as she nodded, silky hair blowing in the slight wind. A pale arm extended towards him; sunlight bounced off her milk-white nails and reflected into gem-like sapphire eyes. She simply looked like an angel as the shimmering fabric of her dress blew about her frame.

"Ryou."

"Yes?" He asked carefully, as if his voice might chase away the apparation infront him. "Who are you...?"

"Ryou." She repeated, her voice becoming hurried and concerned. "Ryou!"

"What is it? What's wrong?!" Ryou shouted, his heart racing. "Ryou! Ryou! RYOU!" Her face was twisting. "Ryou!"
Silver hair turned to the color of sand. "Ryou!" Blue shifted to purple. Her cream skin fell into a pool of bronze. The face became Malik's.

"RYOU! WAKE UP!"

His chocolate eyes shot open, looking into Malik'salarmed amethyst eyes. His breathing was harsh and almost painful; his vision kept fading in and out. His back hurt; he remembered the surgery and the wings that had been implanted into his back. "Malik? What's wrong...?"

"God, Ry! Don't scare me like that! After Joey finished his story and everyone else came in, you passed out. What's up with you?" Malik sighed as he waited for a response.

"I- Nevermind..." Ryou muttered, turning away. He saw Malik sigh and look away, as if making eye-contact would make something horrible come true...

"Ryou... Do you really think Bakura and Marik are coming? I don't want to sound like a downer or anything, but think
about it... It's been almost two months since we were taken here and we haven't seen hide nor hair of them."

"Of course I still think they're coming, Malik..." Ryou said, although it sounded as if he didn't believe himself as he spoke. "Maybe they just can't find the place... We are kinda in the middle of nowhere."

Malik held back another sigh and brought up his legs so that he could rest his elbows on his kneecaps. "How can you have so much faith, Ryou? So much belief?"

"Hey, cut it out." A third voice interrupted. Malik looked up and into Joey's face as the tall blonde sat with Yugi resting
in his lap. "Great way to kill someone's hope, Malik. Let him keep on believin', if that's what's keepin' him going."

Ryou stared at Joey in suprise; he had almost forgotten he was there. He sighed. "Joey? Can I talk to you about something?"

Joey blinked slightly, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Whatcha wanna talk about, Ry?"

"In... private...?" Ryou asked.

"Sure." Carefully, Joey untangled himself from Yugi and leaned him against the wall with a gentle touch. He followed Ryou awayfrom Malik and the others. "What's up, Ry?"

"Joey, remember what you said earlier? About... about the previous experiments, and... the person who died... the last survivor...?"

The blonde arched his eyebrow. "Yeah...?" His eyes darkened a moment later. "Wait, back up, Ry--"

"--Joey, I'm scared..."

1 - NOT intended for MokubaXSerenity. I just think she'd be the kind to give comfort to others.

DON'T KILL ME! (runs off)

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot, and I'm not even sure of that T.T