For I Will

# CW: Ok, I've pretty much sorted things out. Sorry about the delay! #

There was a knock at the door.

Téa looked up from her coffee, hauled herself out of her chair and went to answer it.

'Hello.' She said wearily, opening the door.

'Hey, Téa.' Said Mai. 'Man, you look rough.'

'So do you.' Replied Téa. 'Had a brawl?'

'Yeah.' Grinned Mai. 'I was mugged. Saw the guy off in no time, though.'

Téa looked up at her. 'D'you think it could've been the same guy who attacked Yugi?'

'I thought you called the cops and said it was Joey.'

Téa looked astonished. 'Why would we wanna do that? Joey's our friend! Tristan only brought in his jacket because it was evidence.'

'So you didn't call them and tell them you saw Joey running away?' Mai followed Téa inside.

'No.' Replied Téa. 'We didn't see anyone. We just saw Yugi – lying there all beat up – oh, it was terrible!' she began to sob. Mai put a cautious arm round her and tried to comfort her. Mai had never been a people person.

'Look, we could go to the station and clear things up.' Said Mai. 'We could tell them it wasn't you that called, it was someone trying to frame him.'

'Ok.' Téa wiped her eyes. 'Ok, but Tristan has to come too.'

'Of course.' Said Mai.

'Back so soon, Miss Valentine?'

'Yes. It wasn't Joey who attacked Yugi.' She brought forward Téa and Tristan. 'This is Téa Gardner and Tristan Taylor, the ones who supposedly called you about the attack.'

'What about them?' asked the cop.

'We didn't call.' Said Téa. 'Tristan came in with the jacket and the wallet later, but we didn't see anyone running away from the scene, especially not Joey.'

'Yeah, Joey would never attack Yugi.' Said Tristan. 'He's his best friend in the whole world.'

'I'm going to need some proof that you are who you say you are.' Said the cop. 'A birth certificate, a driver's licence, anything.'

'Here's my motorbike licence.' Tristan slapped it onto the desk.

'Uh, I've got a VIP backstage pass to a concert.' Said Téa, handing that over.

'Ok, kids. But if you didn't call, who did?'

Téa and Tristan shrugged.

'They called from a booth, but they gave us both your home addresses and phone numbers, including your cell phone, Miss Gardner.'

'That doesn't make any sense.'

'Yeah, we wouldn't give our numbers to someone who wanted to frame our friend!'

'I'm sorry, but you'll have to do better than that to help Mr Wheeler, Miss Valentine.' Said the cop, leaning back in his chair.

'Ok.' Said Mai. 'I need to talk to Keith, please.'

'Why did you frame him?' snarled Mai.

'Easy, sugar.' Grinned Keith, looking quite at home in the interview chair. 'Frame who? I'm feeling kinda slow today.'

'You put the bleach under Joey's bed.' She said.

'Now, when was I upstairs?' grinned Keith.

'You went outside for a smoke and you didn't come back for one hell of a long time.' Said Mai.

'I was thinking.'

'Oh? About which innocent young guy you're gonna frame next?'

'Seriously, sweetheart. How could I get there from outside? I've never been to your little boyfriend's room.'

'He's not my boyfriend.' Snarled Mai.

Keith grinned. 'That's not what it looks like.'

Mai changed the subject. 'When you first came, you said you knew who the arsonist was.'

'Yeah, and he just couldn't accept it.'

'What?'

'Ok, I'll tell you the truth. You're a nice girl, Mai, and you deserve to know where you're going wrong. I can't let you back up a killer and then get all disappointed when he's sent off to the chair now, can I?'

'Joey is not a killer.' Growled Mai.

'Do you think you know Joey inside out?' Keith grinned nastily. 'Do you think he wants to win more than he's letting on?'

Mai looked puzzled.

'Well I do. I know. That kid's got a lot of hurt bottled up inside him. He's had a hard life, did you know that, Mai? And then he's always knocked down to second place by his so-called friend, Yugi. He wants to show the world who he is, and this runt keeps thrashing him! How does that make him feel? How would it make you feel, huh? And you, Mai. He went for you first. The job ain't done if he doesn't remove all threats. You're always in the finals with him, so he reckons you could be dangerous. He started on you first because, if you'll excuse me, he thinks you're weak. Now you're not, but he thinks you are because you're a girl. He's using you, Mai. He doesn't love you. He did all that stuff to you apart from the gun thing. That was me, but that was because he wanted me to. It was to make people go off on the wrong track. I work for him, see?'

Tears glimmered in Mai's eyes. 'He didn't do anything. He didn't! And he does love me. I know it. If you're working for Joey, why would you tell me all this?'

'Because I don't like what he's doing and I want to put a stop to it. He's using me. He got me arrested for cryin' out loud!'

'You told them the bleach was Joey's fault, you told them all this, didn't you?'

'Sorry, cupcake.'

'Don't you cupcake me! I don't believe you!'

'Keith, would you like to make a statement on this?' The cop stood up.

'Indeed I would. Thank you, sir.' Said Keith.

'Stop it, Keith!' cried Mai.

'I'm gonna do what's right for once.' Said Keith nastily.

'No!'

'I'm afraid your presence is no longer required, Miss Valentine.' Said the cop.

Mai burst out of the interview room.

'What happened?'

'Mai! Did it go Ok?'

Mai turned to Téa and Tristan.

'It - ' she looked away, then looked back. 'It - ' Mai felt something welling up in her chest. Cruelty! No one could make her cry in front of these guys! No one! 'It went like shit!' she burst out, then her barrier broke down and all her grief came flowing over it, like water breaching a stricken dam.

Mai burst into tears and sank down in the middle of the floor.

Téa went to comfort her.

'Go away! I'm fine! It'll be Ok in a minute.' Sobbed Mai.

'No, come here.' Téa sat down beside her and hugged her gently. Tristan stood by, unsure of what to do.

'He said Joey did it all and hired him to shoot me!' sobbed Mai. 'He said Joey thinks I'm weak and he doesn't love me and Joey's trying to kill people 'cos he wants to win and he wants to kill Yugi and he wants to kill me and he's using me!'

'Ssh. You know that's not true.' Said Téa.

'No I don't!' snapped Mai. 'I don't know what I know anymore!'

'Yes, but you know what you believe.' Said Téa. 'And that's all that matters.'

'Téa's right.' Said Tristan. 'Take duel monsters. This is where Kaiba falls foul of Yugi, 'cos Kaiba knows all sorts of shit about duel monsters. He's studied every card and he's planned every strategy perfectly, but he still loses to Yugi because although Yugi doesn't have all the knowledge Kaiba does, Yugi believes. He believes in the heart of the cards and he believes in himself. That's what you've gotta do. Believe in Joey and believe in yourself.'

'Man, Tristan. You've been studying, haven't you?' grinned Téa.

'No, I just decided I'd give one of your speeches a shot.' Said Tristan.

'You guys are great.' Mai wiped her eyes. 'Will you help me?'

'Sure we will.' Grinned Téa. 'See, I told you before, and Joey told you, in fact. All you need is friends. You'd have a much easier and happier life. You see, friends - '

'Don't you start.' Interrupted Tristan. 'Two speeches in a row could get pretty heavy.'

'We could get all the guys together and hunt for evidence.' Said Mai. 'Ok. I admit I was wrong. If only Joey was here to hear this. He was the one who told me in the first place. I don't know where I'd be without you guys.'

'In the shadow realm, that's where.' Said Téa.

'No, married to an obnoxious second rate movie star.' Corrected Tristan.

'Actually, I'd be put off duelling forever after losing all my star chips to an eliminator in Duellist Kingdom.' Said Mai.

'Oh yeah.' Said Téa.

'Well – uh, I'll just go and call Serenity.' Said Tristan. 'She'll wanna help her brother.'

'Ok.' Said Téa. 'I'll get Ryou and Du - '

'A-a-ah - ' Interrupted Tristan, wagging a finger at her. 'We're having no pony-tailed lady-snatchers in this investigation.'

'Tristan, we don't care what you personally have against Duke. He has as much right to join in as you have. In fact, he has as much right to Serenity as you have. She's her own person.' Snapped Téa.

'But I met her first.' Whined Tristan.

'No you didn't.' retorted Téa. 'In fact, out of all of us, Joey met her first – duh!'

'But he's her brother.' Said Tristan, wrinkling his nose.

'Shut up.' Said Téa.

'Ok. Well, let's go get the others.' Said Mai. 'We'll need all the help we can get if we're gonna prove Joey's innocent.'

'Right.' Said Téa.

'Right.' Said Tristan. 'But – uh, if we're doing any splitting up, can I go with Serenity?'

Téa rolled her eyes. 'If only Yugi was here.' She sighed. 'Not only would he shut you up, Tristan, he would love to know that Mai's finally one of us.'

'Yeah.' Said Mai. 'But that doesn't mean I wanna be babied like Joey is, Ok?'

'Joey's not babied.' Said Téa. 'We just help him along.'

'Whatever.' Said Mai.

# CW: Whew! Another chapter done. This story will be AT LEAST twenty chappies long, BTW, so don't expect the ending to come soon, Ok? Right, again, I'm sooo sorry for the delay. My internet was knackered, so I haven't received ANY reviews or e-mails! Ugh! #