AN: Second chapter now up! Thanks to all of my reviewers for...well, reviewing! o Heh heh... So anyway! Thanks go out to:

Lilrubydevil

Flame Swordswoman

Kaibasbabe

Saphira's Ember.

Madness

Joey noticed with a vague, but at the same time huge sensation in the pit of his stomach that the area around the bench had chilled by several degrees upon the arrival of the stranger, who was still hidden in the shadows just out of reach of the shimmery light that was ever-so-slightly obscured by a cool mist. Reacting purely by instinct, he shuffled back as far as he could, eventually hitting the wooden arm of the bench.

The stranger chuckled softly, "You have no reason to fear me."

Immediately Joey froze, recognizing the voice and matching it to the owner immediately. It was Malik, of all people! Of all the people that could catch him now it just had to be one of the only people who he truly feared, not counting his 'father', of course. But... He did say not to fear him... Shaking his head quickly to himself, Joey resisted the urge to smack his head against something hard and heavy. He knew that he couldn't trust that guy! Oh, sure he'd forgiven him for what happened during Battle City, but that didn't mean he trusted him! Not as far as he could throw him. Nope. Not that mind-controlling, egotistical, arrogant, cocky... Person.

He hesitated before replying, seriously hoping that he wasn't going to make a mistake that could cost him his life (because lets face it, he felt dead enough as it was), more of his precious blood (Which, undeniably, he was fast running out of) or just plain regret it, "W-what do you want? If you want to hurt me go ahead and get it over with..." He muttered softly, his voice slightly hoarse and croaky. He said nothing more, shifting myself nervously and keeping his amber eyes carefully averted.

Instead of answering, Malik merely sat down at the other end of the bench slowly, leaning back and tipping his head back so that he could gaze at the sky. A small smirk was dancing across his lips, but at the same time there was the faintest glitter in his eyes that foretold something else, which Joey only would have noticed had he not being staring at a tree, which he had somehow managed to almost convince himself to think of as incredibly interesting. Mentally though, Joey still panicked, going even stiller than he had been before and squeezing his eyes shut.

"You do realize that it quite possibly isn't a good idea for you to be out here, right?" Malik enquired after a while, having chosen to ignore the fact that Joey had actually asked him a question first, his tone ever so slightly cool.

"..." Joey didn't reply for the longest time, knotting his eyebrows together, "I have nowhere else to go," he said at last, surprising both himself and the Egyptian boy who was now openly lounging on his seat, clearly not at all bothered by the darkness. He didn't exactly appreciate the coldness of the weather, but at the moment he was too intent on focussing on what was happening in the present situation.

The other raised a pale blond eyebrow slightly, his head cocked to the side slighty, "You have a home, do you not? And your father," The eyebrow raised itself a little higher when Malik thought he sensed Joey jerk a little, like a puppy caught in the headlights of a car with its tail between its legs, "Unless of course. you have left?"

Unable to help himself, Joey snorted softly, his usually bright eyes dulled and almost life-like in appearance, "I'm not going back," he whispered softly. It was almost to himself, but he could tell that Malik had heard him. Once again he was surprising himself. Why the hell was he even TALKING to this insane freak, let alone saying things like this!

Unbidden, he continued talking, his voice adopting a tone of hysteria as his volume raised slightly with every word he uttered, "I'm not... I'm not going back... I REFUSE TO GO BACK THERE WITH HIM!" he screamed, reaching up to grip at his hair. It was as if every emotion he had felt since... things had started happen had manifested themselves suddenly, mostly as rage, frustration and ultimately, hatred towards his father. What if the same thing happened to Serenity as was happening to him?

He had realized that he was screaming now, having felt his throat tear slightly and the blood well up, staining his lips crimson and dripping slowly down his chin and onto the ground. Continuing with the agonized sounds, he jumped at the nearest thing he could reach and proceeded to tear it to pieces, yelling at it in anguish as if it was its fault.

Unfortunately for Joey, trapped in his hazed mind as he was, he didn't realize that he had actually attacked Malik.

"Snap out of it, Wheeler!" Malik growled dangerously, grabbing the hysterical boy's wrists in a vice-grip and pushing him off. Physically, he was practically Joey's equal in strength, but not this time. Now he was actually having more than a bit of difficulty holding the other off, and it was quite frankly getting on his nerves, especially as it didn't seem that anything he was saying was getting through to the fool.

Growling under his breath as Joey continued to try and maul him like some kind of rabid dog, Malik grabbed hold of the Millennium Rod and concentrated briefly, easily seizing control of the other's mind and gripping onto it tightly. He could feel Joey struggling against it violently, but heh, he was innocent. He had an excuse for this afterall!

Managing a soft snarl under his breath before his mind was completely overtaken, Joey shuddered violently in his mind, hating the feeling of the control. It had been like icy water cascading over him at first, as tendrils of power and wrapped themselves around his mind. The feeling had quickly turned into something more like his entire body turning into candy-floss as his senses were numbed completely, blocking out the beserk anger that had previously been controlling his actions.

He 'felt' his wrists being let go slowly and opened his eyes slowly, having realized that he still had control over them, staring up into Malik's cold, piercing violet eyes. Gradually he felt the numbness seep away, allowing him to move once again. He didn't though, too scared to at the moment. Joey couldn't put it past him. Malik seemed almost as bad as he had during Battle City, afterall. He knew how hard it was to shake off old habits and almost an entire personality, not something that would happen overnight, or even, in this case, two months.

"You have nowhere to go?" He inquires bluntly, the eyebrow raising itself slightly again. Sitting back slightly, he tapped the Rod against his knee as he waited for Joey's reply, even though he knew what it would be. Regardless of what the other boy said, he wouldn't be going back to that excuse for a 'home' he had been living in before. Oh no, Malik had better plans than that. A plan that he intended to put into motion very, very soon indeed.

His lips twitching up into a small smirk when he saw Joey nod, Malik abruptly pulled himself to his feet, dragging the exhausted Joey with him as he hooked the other boy's arm over his shoulder in order to keep him from collapsing. He really didn't feel like carrying the puppy half-way across the city just because said puppy could barely even stand without his knees buckling inwards, "You're coming with me, in that case," he snickered, starting to walk out of the park slowly.

Small cliffhanger! 3 Review, please? It will make me a very happy person, and will also make me want to type the next chapter up faster for you guys!

And yes, I know that I use a mix of dub and sub names. That's because I prefer some over others in the case of this story. : )