Seto was lying on the cold cement ground, blood soaking his clothing. A kick to his head sent flames of pain into his body. He could barely move, it felt as if every bone in his body was broken, even though they weren't. (A.N. I had a feeling that if I hurt Seto too bad, all the Seto lovers out there would hurt me...so I didn't.)
"J...V...I think you need to stop, I don't think he'll be moving any time soon," said Majeh calling the two men by their initials.
"If he ever moves again I'll be surprised," said Varek, "I doubt he's ever been in that much pain before."
Jarick chuckled and head back upstairs. He wanted to see what kind of damage the boss had dealt the little blond. Varek followed his brother, he figured Majeh could watch Kaiba.
Majeh waited for the two men to leave before walking over and kneeling down next to Kaiba's abused body.
"Kaiba, I want you to listen to me and listen closely. Your brother is in the custody of witness protection. The government police are on their way here and these men and any other threat that could occur will be taken care off. But right now you need to keep up the act, our plan is working and soon Joey will be safe," he whispered as he brushed the brown bangs out of Seto's dark cold eyes.
"How much longer?" Kaiba coughed out, his lungs were killing him.
"I don't know, but just hang in there and hope your friend upstairs can hold on as well," said Majeh as he stood up and headed upstairs locking the basement door behind him.
Kaiba sat up as Majeh left. He let his head fall back and he closed his eyes. He just sat there concentrating on breathing and staying alive. He could feel every individual cut and bruise on his body. He could feel the blood seeping from his body, soaking his clothes and pooling on the floor. Joey, hold on, if only for a little while.
Yami and Yugi entertained Mokuba and his friends. They had arrived the other day with a bunch of secret service men. Supposedly Yami and Yugi were to keep them out of sight and inside. But keeping them entertained was proving harder than it should be.
I don't know if I can handle them much longer.
You? I've been watching them for the past three hours. Playing some of the stupidest games and who knows what else.
Well that's what happens when you're cousins with Kaiba, Yami.
Why don't you take a turn with them, Yugi.
Cuz I'm having fun watching you try to entertain them.
Funny...I just hope whatever Kaiba's gotten himself into he gets out of soon. These kids need to go home.
Yugi just laughed before heading to the kitchen to make lunch.
Joey's arms were tied behind him and he was sitting in one of the corners of the room. He couldn't even open his eyes, but he could definantly hear the conversation that was going on. The men all thought he had blacked out, how wrong they were.
"When are we going to kill them boss?" asked Varek.
"Soon...soon," said Alcore.
"Did you tell the kid?" asked Jarick.
"Yeah, he about crapped his pants too," said Alcore.
"Why do you torment them, why not just end it?" asked Majeh.
"What's it matter to you?" asked Alcore.
"Just a question," said Majeh.
"Ya know, you've been acting strange lately, anything you want to tell us?" asked Alcore."No," said Majeh, glaring at Alcore.
"J...V..." said Alcore.
Majeh found himself in the hands of the two men and pinned to the floor. Alcore stood before him.
"Now why don't you tell me the truth Agent Raven," said Alcore.
"Fuck you," growled Majeh.
"It seems my informant gave me some useful info on you after all," said Alcore.
"It's too late. No matter what you do, it's over for you," snarled Majeh.
"Yes, but it's also too late for you, boys have at him," said Alcore as he left the room.
Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing. Majeh really hadn't betrayed them...but something was missing. Majeh had only joined the gang a few months ago, so how did he find out about Alcore and what he was doing? Did Seto have something to do with it? Joey opened his eyes, everyone had left the room. He was alone. He had to get out of this bindings and get to Seto.
Seto tried to stand, but ended up back on the floor. I have to get up. I have to help Joey. I ... I ...
Seto forced himself to his feet and over to the nearest wall. He leaned against the wall, taking in deep breaths of air. He tried to focus on something, but everything around him wanted to spin. Okay Kaiba get a hold of reality. Majeh didn't kill your brother. Thank god or I would have killed him whether he's helping or not. Joey's upstairs, hopefully not dead. And you...you're stuck in a basement, because you can't get over your pain to help anyone.
Seto took a step forward, gritting his teeth against the pain. He made his way to the stairs. He took them slowly, hands against the walls for balance. He made it to the door, pausing to listen to what was on the other side, before turning the handle and walking through straight into someone.
Joey struggled out of his bindings and got to his feet. Everything hurt but he ignored it. He walked to the door that lead to the basement and went to open it. The door opened itself and Kaiba walked through running into Joey.
"Seto!" hissed Joey holding the brunette steady.
Seto was unbalanced slightly when he ran into the blond, but was happy to see him. He collapsed into Joey's body, wrapping his arms around the blond's neck.
"We need to leave," he said hoarsely.
"I know," said Joey, supporting Seto.
"We need to leave now," said Seto as he tried to support his own weight and head for the door that lead out of this place.
"And where would you two be headed?" asked Alcore as he approached the two boys.
Joey froze and Seto glared.
"You wouldn't be trying to escape would you?" said Varek moving from the shadows.
Neither boy answered.
"That wouldn't be a good idea," said Jarick coming out of another room.
"Just let us go," said Joey finally speaking up.
"I can't do that Joey," said Alcore, "You know too much and Kaiba here knows more than he needs too. Since he was the one who hired Agent Raven, correct?"
"I don't know what you're talking about?" growled Kaiba.
"Really, so Majeh just happened to find out about me with no one telling him?" asked Alcore, evil smirk across his face.
Seto didn't have an answer. He had hired Majeh, but not to help Joey. He hadn't known Joey was involved until later. The only reason he had hired Majeh was to get back at whoever was trying to destroy his company. And that someone was connected to Joey's father.
"Where is Majeh? What did you do to him?" asked Joey. He shouldn't be concerned for the agent but he was.
"Yeah Jarick where did you put him?" asked Varek looking at his brother, wicked grin plastered on his face.
"I don't remember, last time I saw him he was about to freeze to death in the middle of the lake," said Jarick, "He was trying to swim to shore, but with cuffs on that's kind of hard."
"Bastards," hissed Kaiba.
Before anyone could say anything there was the sound of a door being broken down and the police swarming into the abandoned cabin.
"Everyone on the floor, hands on your heads," yelled one of the officers.
Alcore snarled but complied, as did Jarick and Varek. Seto stood there, holding Joey. He sure as hell wasn't getting on the floor, if he did he wasn't likely to get up again.
The officers recognized Kaiba and figured him and the blond should be left alone.
After the three men were cuffed and being hauled out of the cabin, Alcore turned around and yelled at Joey.
"You better watch your back boy," was all Alcore said before he was shoved into the back of a police car.
Joey shivered. He wasn't going to take that threat lightly. He knew that now that his uncle was out of the way, the people above him, who knew Joey and knew that the blond was a liability would be seeking him out for themselves.
"Don't worry," said Kaiba, "No one will hurt you."
"Kaiba you can't protect me from everyone," said Joey.
"I can and I will," said Seto as one of the police medics walked up to check his injuries.
"Excuse me Mr. Kaiba, but you and Mr. Wheeler need to have any injuries you have examined," said the medic seeing the condition that the two boys were in.
"Later," said Kaiba waving the man off, he turned back to Joey, "Let's go home."
"How about we take a visit to the hospital first," said Joey. As much as he didn't want to go, he knew that he and Kaiba needed to.
ONE WEEK LATER...
"SETO!" yelled Mokuba as he tackled his older brother.
"Hey kiddo," said Seto as he hugged his brother.
"The agent guys said that you were in trouble, when they dropped me and my friends off at Yugi's," said Mokuba, "I was really worried about you bro."
"Everything's okay now," said Seto, "Now...how about you go set up a room for Joey, unless of course you want to stay in my room?"
"I don't want to intrude on you Kaiba, so a room to myself would be nice," said Joey as he leaned against the wall after he had closed the door to the mansion.
"Okay then, off you go Mokuba," said Seto smirking as he ruffled up his brother's hair.
Mokuba laughed and ran off to prepare a room for Joey. Seto watched as his brother ran off before turning his attention to Joey.
"You're still worried about his threat aren't you?" said Seto.
"Well I have a right to be," said Joey.
"True, but no one is going to hurt you, at least as long as you don't do anything stupid as going off somewhere by yourself like last time," said Seto.
"Seto...how about we not talk about it," said Joey.
"Fine...but I do believe I owe you something," said Seto as he grabbed Joey's hand and ran up the stairs to his room.
"SETO!" yelped Joey as he soon found himself on Seto's bed, "What the frick!"
"I believe you and I both wanted something the other day that we couldn't have. And you said after we got rid of your dad we could have it,"said Seto straddling Joey.
"Umm Seto...that man...he wasn't my father," said Joey eyes downcast.
"Then who was he?" asked Seto narrowing his eyes.
"I thought he was my father...he looks just like my father...but..."
"But what?"
"He's my uncle..."
"Then where the fuck is your father!"
"I killed my father...years ago...but I didn't know it."
"How could you not?"
"Because I was brainwashed," growled Joey, "This abuse stuff has been going on since I was seven. I had no idea I had killed my father. I just knew he had been put in the hospital, my uncle brainwashed my into thinking he was my father. Trust me, it was a shock when I found out the truth Seto. I was not expecting to be told that."
"I...I didn't mean to upset you. It's just...that the whole thing seems odd to me. I don't think this fits together," said Seto.
"Then research it, like you do with everything else Seto. Find out everything about me and my life," said Joey as he glared at Seto.
"What's with the attitude Wheeler? You weren't acting like this earlier," snarled Seto.
"Seto I don't think you know how worried I am. If you think you can keep me safe you're wrong. The men who'll come after me now that my uncle has been arrested, they're a lot sneakier than him. For all I know I could get called to the principle's office at school and it could be one of them. You don't know these people. You cannot protect me from them," said Joey anger and pain in his voice.
"And I'll tell you again that I can protect you Joey," said Seto, "Why do you refuse to trust me?"
"I do trust you it's just that I don't want you to go through that again if something happens to me," said Joey, "I care about you and Mokuba... I care about you two a lot. And if you get between me and these men, you will get hurt and I don't want that. I'd rather be dead than have either of you get hurt."
"I give up. Obviously I'm never going to get it into your head that I can protect you and that no one will ever hurt you again," said Seto.
"I'm sorry," said Joey, rolling out from under Seto and sitting on the edge of the bed.
Seto crawled over to Joey and wrapped his arms around Joey's neck and rested his chin on Joey's head.
"Joey, I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I love you too much. If something happens to you...I ...I don't know what I'd do," said Seto.
Joey leaned back into Seto. He closed his eyes. What am I gonna do? I know those men will come after me. I know they'll try and hurt those close to me so that they can get to me. And I don't want any of that to happen. I'd never forgive myself. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Can Seto really protect me? I wish I knew what to do...
Joey's mind wandered, but he jumped about five feet into the air when the phone rang, scaring him. Seto pulled away from Joey grumbling as he got off the bed and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"So he's okay?"
"When will I be able to talk to him?"
"Next Tuesday?"
"That's fine."
"Bye."
Seto hung up the phone and turned to face a stunned Joey.
"Who was that?"
"One of the agents who works for me."
"And?" asked Joey.
"And they were confirming that they found Majeh and that he's okay and not dead in the middle of the lake," said Seto walking back over to Joey.
Joey walked back into school Monday morning, Kaiba by his side. He was instantly tackled by his friends.
"Joey where've you been?"
"Are you okay?"
"You're not hurt are you?"
"Why haven't we seen you?"
"Guys! Guys!" said Joey pulling away from his friends. He didn't need any more bruises along with the ones he already had.
"I suggest you not talk about that subject," said Seto before walking off, leaving Joey with his friends.
"I guess Kaiba's right," said Yugi, "But you are okay aren't you Joey?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"You guys, class is about to start. I think we should get to first period," said Te'a.
Everyone agreed and headed off to first period.
Joey felt for once, that he was safe. And happy and among people who did truly care about him.
To all my faithful reviewers thank you! I have a feeling though that you all are worried that this is the end...well it is to this story...there's another part to the story and i've already started on it! I hope you all enjoyed the first part of this story and if anyone has a suggestion for what should happen in the next part you are more than welcome to tell me or request that i use your idea...
so long
Sishyu
