"Hey boss," said Mitch, "There's someone on the phone for you."

"Hello?" said Joey Sr. grabbing the phone away from Mitch, "Really? At least they're trusting you, next time don't disobey my orders. Where are you going to take them? We'll meet you there tomorrow, in the old abandoned lake cabin."

Joey Sr. hung up the phone and turned to face his men, a big evil grin spread across his face.

"Well boss?" asked Rayel.

"It would seem we'll be getting Kaiba and Joey back sooner than we thought," said Joey Sr.

"Hey you two get up," said Majeh, "I've fixed you breakfast and we need to leave in about an hour."

Joey and Seto both moaned and got out of the bed, quickly putting on the robes they had thrown on the floor last night.

"After you eat, I'll give you your clothes, they're still in the dryer," said Majeh leaving the room.

"Joey," yawned Seto, "Does something seem off to you?"

"Meaning?"

"Majeh seems to be in too big of a hurry to leave," said Seto.

"And?"

"Are you going to keep answering me with one worded questions, because it's annoying," said Seto.

"So?"

"Joey!" said Seto as grabbed the blond's arm and pulled him close, "You cannot be that tired!"

"Huh?"

"Joey I swear – " started Seto until he realized Joey was trying not to laugh.

Joey's body trembled with laughter, he couldn't believe Seto had fallen for the old still asleep trick.

"I can't believe you just pulled that on me," said Seto starting to laugh, "Actually I can't believe I fell for it."

"You...you should've...you should've seen the look on your face," laughed Joey, tears ran down his face.

"Joey I don't think you should be laughing," Seto laughed his lungs beginning to hurt.

"My lungs hurt," rasped Joey after him and Seto had finally calmed down.

"Mine too," said Seto, sitting down at the kitchen table to eat the breakfast Majeh had made them.

"Let's see, Majeh made us scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and a lot of other things. Wow he can really cook," said Joey sitting down with Seto and digging in.

Seto rolled his eyes at Joey playfully before digging in as well.

Within an hour, Joey and Seto had finished breakfast, showered, and gotten dressed into their clean clothes and were now in Majeh's car driving down the freeway.

"So where is headquarters?" asked Joey.

"A few hours away, that's why I wanted to get an early start,"said Majeh, "You guys can sleep if you want to, it's a really long drive."

"I prefer not to sleep in cars," said Seto narrowing his eyes at Majeh, he still didn't trust the man.

"Suit yourself," said Majeh, looking at the two boys through the rearview mirror.

It didn't take long for Joey and Seto to fall asleep in the back seat of Majeh's car. He had put a good dosage of sleeping powder in their breakfast. He figured they'd be out for a few hours and wouldn't wake up until after they had reached their destination.

"Good work Majeh. I'm surprised they believed you," said Joey Sr. patting Majeh on the shoulder as he looked at the two sleeping boys on the couch.

"How did you get them to believe you?" asked Mitch.

"That's a stupid question Mitch and unless you want a nice mind screw I suggest you keep your mouth shut," snarled Majeh.

Mitch shut up, he'd been through the whole Majeh treatment thing and it was not pleasant.

"When will they wake up, cuz I want a picture of the look on their faces when they see me," said Joey Sr.

"They shouldn't sleep for more than another hour, well at least not Kaiba, but your son ate a crap load so he might sleep for longer," said Majeh as he leaned against the far wall.

"Well then we should make sure the camera's ready," said Joey Sr., evil grin spreading across his face.

Seto moaned as he tried to sit up and clear his vision. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked up. Only to see Joey Sr. standing in front of him. He whipped his head to the side though when he heard a camera go off.

"You sick son of a bitch!" growled Seto.

Joey Sr. just laughed, before grabbing Kaiba around the throat and tightening his grip so the brunette couldn't breathe.

Seto lashed out at the older man, he was not going to let so idiot kill him. Unfortunately with the positioning of him on the couch and Joey's father over him, he couldn't do much to fight back. Seto quickly inhaled though when Joey Sr. let him go and back away in pain.

Joey had woken up as his father had closed his hand around Seto's throat. He tried to hit his father instantly but his body hadn't fully waken up. He shot his heel out and hit his father in the side.

Joey Sr. jumped back and snarled. Well he'd almost taken care of one of them. But it wouldn't be hard to do it now. They were in the middle of nowhere and no one would find the boys' bodies for a few years. By then he'd be out of town and living elsewhere. That was if he decided to kill the boys, but he wasn't about to yet.

"Jarick."

"Yeah boss."

"Take the Kaiba kid to the basement."

"And do what with him?"

"Whatever, just don't kill him."

Seto snarled, before grabbing Joey and heading for the nearest escape he could find. Both boys came to a halt as Majeh blocked their way.

"You," growled Seto, "You fucking traitor!"

"That may be, but I'm a smart traitor at that," said Majeh shoving the boys back.

Joey found himself pulled away from Seto and pinned to the wall by his father. Seto on the other hand was in Jarick and Varek's grasp now, heading elsewhere.

"Father leave him alone," growled Joey as Seto disappeared.

"Majeh go help Jarick and Varek," said Joey Sr.

Majeh left the room. He knew by the time Jarick, Varek and him were done with Kaiba there would be nothing left of the boy.

"I said leave Kaiba alone," snarled Joey.

"And I say you're going to be in a lot of pain when I'm done with you," said his father.

Seto was stripped of his shirt, with his hands chained together above him in the middle of the room. He stumbled backwards as Jarick's fist hit his face again and again. Kaiba gritted his teeth against the pain, he could take a lot more than what this big guy was dealing him. Majeh came down the stairs and stood in one of the shadowy corners of the room.

Jarick hauled back his fist, ready to hit Seto again, when Majeh stopped him. Jarick glared at Majeh, he didn't like being interrupted.

"I don't believe we've informed Kaiba of the accident that occurred today," said Majeh.

"Ah yes the accident," said Varek, seeing what Majeh was getting at.

"What accident?" asked Seto becoming curious against his better judgement.

"Oh just the airplane that crashed early this morning on its way to Rome," said Majeh casually.

"You're lying," said Seto slightly afraid. He'd sent his brother to Rome and he had made sure they were safe. If Mokuba's plane had crashed...then...Seto didn't even want to think about it.

"No actually I'm not, and I'll prove it to you," said Majeh walking to the other side of the room and turning on a spare tv to the news channel. A dark haired lady was talking about the plane crash as pictures of the wreck flashed on the screen.

THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS OF THIS PLANE CRASH AND IT HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED WHY THE PLANE WENT DOWN.

These were the words that flew across the screen over and over. Seto's eyes widened in shock. Mokuba...no...I... brother...

Seto felt a hot wetness trail down his face, he was crying, for the first time in quite a while. He wouldn't let these bastards get away with this.

"It seems we've actually struck a nerve," said Jarick, snickering, "Sorry about your brother, but that's what you get when you take something that doesn't belong to you."

"He was my brother," Seto whispered, his head hanging, "HE WAS MY BROTHER! HE WAS ONLY A KID! HOW COULD YOU!"

"It's not hard," said Varek as he knocked Kaiba's feet out from under him.

Seto yelped as his arms jerked and held him up as he tried to regain his footing. He found himself being lifted up, via chain. His feet now dangled above the ground and he was at eye level with Jarick.

Jarick smirked before slamming his fist into Kaiba's jaw. Seto's body swung back slightly before Jarick hit him again in his chest. Another hit came, before Kaiba could even get over the pain of the hits before. Another hit and another. He didn't even have time to counterattack with his feet and kick Jarick, the man was faster than he should be for his size.

Just let it end, please... he thought.

I wish he'd just kill me. Joey couldn't handle any more abuse. His body was giving out. His father was really going to kill him this time. He cried out as his side collided with the sharp edge of an old wooden coffee table. He felt the blood run down his side and soak into his pants as he pulled away. Before Joey could even register what was going on, he found himself on the floor and a steel toed boot headed for his chest.

Joey Sr. stepped down on his son's chest, laughing as his son cried out. He stepped down harder, listening to the broken bones crack and snap into more pieces.

"Dad...please...stop..." Joey coughed out. He couldn't breathe, blood was filling his mouth. He looked up pleadingly at his father.

"Here's the funny thing about this whole situation," said Joey Sr., "I'm not your father."

Joey looked confused and horrified at the same time.

"Some years ago, your father raped you, correct?"

Joey nodded weakly.

"I believe afterwards you attacked him and killed him, did you not?"

"I never killed you. If I had I wouldn't be underneath your foot," growled Joey as he spit out a mouthful of blood.

"I'm not your father. I believe your uncle picked you up from the hospital after your father died."

"Yeah he picked me up, but why are you continuing to say you died?"

"I'm your uncle Joey, your father's twin brother."

Joey's eyes widened in horror. This man before him, his supposed father, wasn't lying to him. This man...was his uncle.

"But...but how? How can that be?" asked Joey horrified out of his mind.

"It's not hard to brainwash a shocked little kid," said Joey's uncle.

"Why? I thought you were different, I thought you were better than my father. I had always wished you or my mom would come and take me away from this. So...when were you planning on telling me this, instead of pretending to be my father?" snarled Joey.

"Now," said Joey's uncle, "I figured I'd tell you before I put you away forever."

"You're going to kill me! You're going to fucking kill me!" shouted Joey.

"Not yet, but soon. And now that you know who I truly am, you can call me Alcore," said Joey's uncle. (A.N. Hey Deity, does that name look familiar?)

"Well Al," snarled Joey, "you might as well kill me now, cuz if I manage to escape, I'll tell everyone I meet everything I know."

"I'm surprised you haven't yet," said Alcore as he moved his foot to Joey's throat and stepped down harshly.

Joey felt the blood fill his mouth and start to flow down the sides of his face. He tried to push his uncle's foot off of him, but he couldn't, he didn't have the strength.

After all these years. After wanting to die forever. I'm fighting to live. To bet this. To win. But I'm losing. My body doesn't have any strength left. And there's no one here to help me now. And I've brought Seto into this whole situation. Mokuba will never forgive me if Seto gets killed. I need to win this. I need to end this. I need to get Seto and myself out of this situation. If there is any god out there or some miracle that could happen, I could really use it right now.