Okay… this is very odd to say but.. I truthfully wrote all this because I made mistake on chapter 22 spelling "past" "pasted" I was rereading it and I was like: OoO OMG!! smacks head on desk until a fine trail of blood trickles down her forehead, dripping onto the hardwood in a dark crimson pool (- quite descriptive) I CANT BELIEVE I DID THAT!!!! I SWEAR I REREAD IT SOOOO MANY TIMES!!! dies of embarrassment (yes, it DOES matter THAT much to me! XD)

anyways, this is the quickest update possibly… wrote all this in 3 hours… does it take me that long????

Thanks to: steel-angel-wing-weaver (email me sometime, I deleted MSN so that's why I don't get on ), Naru (dedicated? Thanks! You sound so nice!! ), FREAK014 (always dedicated ), QueenOfGames2 (gets hit by flying objects gets concussion dies story is left unfinished laughs evilly from heav- ..er.. Wherever she's stored… ahaha

Yes, my nephew had a fun birthday… omg he was hyper!! And SCARY!! …it was really creepy, I don't know, he just acted really weird.

Okay, anyways, enjoy! (ff.net keeps deleting my line!!!)

Chapter XXIII: Stay with Me

"One, two, three, four, five.."

Screaming...

"..six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.."

Laughter...

"..thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen..."

Innocence..

"..seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..."

"Father!"

..shatters so easily.

"Twenty. Ready or not, here I come!"

The door pressed against the wall, light spilling in through the doorway.

'Not ready! One, two, three, four-!' Duke shut his eyes tightly, counting in his head.

"You are a very good boy Duke." a rough voice said. "Always helping your mother, doing nice things," The man paused. "..telling the truth."

Duke's body went rigid.

"You were brought up to be honest, or so I'm told."

"Its our secret."

"I'm sure that after all this time, that you would have felt... the need to tell someone.."

"I didn't tell." he blurted.

"Some secrets aren't meant to tell, I'm sure your mother would agree.."

Mom... my mother.. I want to protect her.. My life..

..has no meaning..

I live for her..

The bed shifted slightly with added weight.

"You've grown."

'Stop him!' His mind screamed, his body frozen and stubborn.

"Your father is gone. He made me promise to take care of you..."

Duke shivered.

"I hated him, my brother... but a promise is a promise."

Duke said nothing as the hand crept lower, each inch more uncomfortable, more frightening.

"Don't scream, remember, its a promise."

He didn't scream as the man descended on him, his eyes dark with incestuous lust.

He couldn't scream, he promised.. for his mother. Her safety depended on his silence...

He did tell, but they wouldn't be able to help him anyways..

A boy on the internet.. with a crush on the multi-billionaire Seto Kaiba..

And a short school friend whose heart seemed to spill from his eyes with love and kindness..

Truthfully he was alone, withering in pain as the dark haired, hate filled uncle of his showed him true loneliness...

Tristan's olive green eyes filled the expanses of his painful white blank mind..

'Stay with me..'

Tristan had said that to him.

It was dark, the street lamps buzzed softly, emitting an orange glow from their towering heads.

Duke stared quietly at the quiet road blankly.

Yugi and the rest of the gang had invited him along with them to the arcade, then shopping, lunch, a variety of activities he could not say was a common thing for him.

Friends... something he had never known, something so new to him, he treasured it..

But like Kaiba, he would not be weak for friends, he still carried himself around with a ostentatious strut.

No one can hurt you when you're floating above the clouds, its cold, your heart freezes to ice, solid and bitter, but before your cloud breaks, you feel invincible.. a god..

"Bye guys! See you later!" He heard Yugi call.

Several good byes were exchanged, he felt his feet moving in the direction of the bus stop..

Ice..

"Stay with me."

Fire..

He turned, staring into the face of a pale olive green eyed boy.

An arrow of fire pierced his heart, he was wounded, but the warmth engulfed him, pain forgotten..

"What?"

"Stay with me, come to dinner." Tristan said stepping closer to him.

"Its past dark.." Duke started, trying to find an excuse to get away from him.

"We never get to be alone together.. "

Alone together…

"I don't know what you're trying to imply by that.." he teased.

"Don't start. I meant that as we're supposed to be best friends, but we rarely get to hang out without having the others tag along."

"Tristan, I don't believe I've ever seen this side of you before. Big and mighty Tristan, a loyal lovesick puppy following shamelessly behind Serenity Wheeler for all time, is asking me on a date! What will I ever do?"

Tristan's face flushed in embarrassment. "That's it, just shut up and come in the restaurant with me."

Tristan pushed past him roughly, his dignity obviously damaged, Duke could almost see the forlorn tail hanging between his legs like a kicked dog.

"So it is a date." Duke eyed Tristan for his reaction. The other boy said nothing. "You have little tact but I'll let it slide.."

Tristan snorted. "Tact? The one lacking is you if you ask me."

They continued to joke around and poke fun at each other, the awkwardness of the sudden 'date' dispelling between them.

"Stay with me.." Spilled over his lips in a hushed whisper.

He let his hand fall the side, slipping it under the mattress..

He felt the cold white plastic in his hand...

He promised.. but Tristan's warm eyes entranced him.. he couldn't stop his body now..

6...

Speed dialing...

No one heard but him, because he was the only one listening..

The ringing tightened the knots in his stomach..

Then he heard it.. it was beautiful..

"Hello?"

He screamed.

"Hello?" Joey pulled the band on his boxers over his hips lazily.

He dropped the phone hearing the scream.

He drew a shirt over his head quickly before running back to his father's bedroom.

His father was reading the paper in his chair quietly, a fresh cigarette balanced between his lips.

"Dad!"

One word, everything was understood.

They got in the car, Kaiba staying behind.

Joey never asked for anything, not even when he was a child.

He fought back, his arms swinging and beating against his uncle's body, his face pushing against the pillow in vain trying to breathe.

He grew tired, his arms falling limply.

'Stay with me...' echoed in his mind loudly..

'I want to stay with you Tristan..'

Everything began to blur and fuzz around the edges, he was about to close his eyes and give in to the darkness when his uncle was pulled away.

He breathed, gasping sharply.

Arms wrapped around him, holding him, but they didn't intend to hurt him.

"J-Joey..?"

"I'm here Duke.." Joey cooed softly in his ear.

Duke looked into Joey's warm brown eyes.

'Stay with me...'

"Stay..with me...Joey.."

Joey held him close, drawing his clean T-shirt around his broken body.

He rested a hand on Joey's bare chest, the shirt a sacrifice for him, a present. He looked up again..

Another pair of eyes his heart leapt forward to love..

'I'm falling in love all over again..with a pair of brown eyes and a warm chest..'

He sighed softly, finally able to rest peacefully and feel safe.

He hid away, deep inside Joey's embrace.

Fast heels hit the hospital floor in a consecutive pattern, the step hurried and frightened.

The steps paused in front of Ryou, he glanced up into a pair of dark purple irises staring down at him. The frantic white contrasting sharply with the dark tanned desert skin.

"Where's Bakura?" he asked, his voice shaking with worry.

Ryou couldn't speak, his voice was lost somewhere in his throat, his own fears consuming him from the inside out. He wanted to hide away and cry out in fury.

He looked down and fingered the cast on his right arm. His lips moved to form words but only pulses of air came out.

"Where's Bakura?" the Egyptian screamed.

Ryou's hid his face in his hands, his back hunched. His mouth moved.

He couldn't speak..

'He's dead Malik! He's fucking dead!'

To be continued...

It was short but oh well, DEAL WIT IT OKAY! ahahaha

Anyways (I hate that word with a passion) Please review and yell at me!! Malik and Marik are here now!!

Later! (1:15 am, school starts at 7:45 am, gotta wake up at 5:45 am, is wasting time telling you and complaining like her problems matter to someone )