Runaway by Le Petit Chaperon Rouge

Disclaimer; I don't owe Yu-gi-Oh.......surprised?

I'd like to thank: Trigger ( I don't know how to name you so...) For being very kind and supportive. ^_~

Chapter 8: Falling back into darkness

"Joey! Calm down!!!!" Mai yelled. "Maybe she just.........."Mai had now officially run out of excuses. It was 10.30 and Serenity promised to be home before dinner, else she would give a ring. The food stood cold and untouched on the table.

"Maybe she just what, Mai!?!?!?" Joey yelled back. He strongly disliked the idea of is baby sister being alone in a city she didn't knew. He slammed his hands on the table, causing Mai to literally jump from her seat. "Maybe she's with some guy......"he said gritting his teeth.

"Like, who?" Mai asked sheepishly. She had noticed staring Tristan a lot at Serenity, but then, so did many other men in Domino.

"Dunno, but he's dead." A long silence followed and Joey started to pace through the room. Mia laid her head on a pillow on the sofa and closed her eyes. Of course, she was worried about Serenity to. For her this was an unknown city, and there lived many wrong people in it. Maybe she made some new friends, and went to a club or something. Serenity didn't seem the type to pick the wrong friends, Joey was just acting too overprotective. But she could at least give them a ring.............

Joey watched Mai as she closed her eyes and fell asleep, as fore himself his eyes were closing too, but he refused to sleep. Not before Serenity would come home. He took a blanket from his room and gently draped it over Mai's sleeping body. He knelt down next to the sofa and tenderly touched Mai's lips. He kissed her forehead, and returned to his spot at the window, staring outside. His forehead leaned against the cold glass. "Where the hell did Serenity go!?!?!" What if some one..........no. stop. He told himself. She will be alright, she just met some new people. Joey released a heavy sigh. Serenity should return quickly. He thought as he sank to the ground. Leaning against the radiator , feeling the metal press hard against his back.

(~)

Mai almost fell of the sofa when she was woken by an highly irritating sound, the phone. She glanced to the clock on the wall , where the fluorescing numbers and hands showed 3.40 in the morning. Before she could make another move, Joey already grabbed the phone.

"Serenity!?!?" He almost yelled into the horn.

"Is this the Wheeler residence?" A stern female voice said.

"Yeah........"

"Come to Domino hospital at once, there's been an emergency." Without another word you slammed down the horn and dragged the still half sleeping Mai to her car. They raced on top speed through the dank and empty streets of Domino. In no time they arrived at he Domino hospital. Joey ran inside, pushing the few people who were there aside. Mia followed him as quickly as possible. At the counter they asked about Serenity and a nurse offered to show them the way. They walked through many white corridors, climbed a few stairs. She led them into a dark room, where every few seconds a short "blieb" could be heard. Mai grabbed Joey's hand. She heard this sound before, and it meant no good.

The nurse switched the light on, and what the saw made Joey sick to his stomach. Mai felt like she was going to faint. Head and wrists bandaged, v- cords running from the arm up to small packages with transparent liquid in it. A cut and bruised face, with the mouth slightly open and a small crust of blood in the left corner. Serenity, an angel broken by her fall on earth. She was in a terrible state, her skin was paler then ever, and her destroyed dress lay on a chair near her bed, together with her shoes. Joey gently touched the corner of her mouth where the blood had dried up. He carefully rubbed it, attempting to get it of. Mai picked up the ruined dress. Some parts were ripped and covered in blood, which made her even more sick. She sat down on the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. She heard the nurse say something about that Serenity wasn't in live threatening stage anymore but she hardy paid attention. The emotions and the tension of that night were leaning heavily on her shoulders.

There's some one that would like to speak to you, Mr. Wheeler. The nurse said in her cold professional voice. Joey nodded, his eyes were wet, like he just cried. Tristan came in, his face was a bit bruised, but he seemed alright. He greeted them, though his voice was shivering. Joey greeted him back, but Mai didn't move a muscle, she didn't even seem to notice Tristan came.

"I'm really sorry about Serenity." Tristan patted Joey friendly on the back.

"It's not your fault." Joey replied. He could smell Tristan's breath. It had a strangely familiar scent, where Joey just couldn't put his finger on.

"I wonder what happened to her." Joey said. "It looks like she fell or something." The nurse had already left so he couldn't ask her. Mai's head nom rested on her hands and she was staring at Serenity, who's chest moved peacefully up and down, like she was asleep. The hospital was quiet only the silent buzzing of the machines that were attached to Serenity broke the silence. Tristan did his best to look normal and relaxed, but seeing Joey devastated like that, hurt him immensely. Nobody said a word , what made the time seem to go even slower.

The door opened swiftly and a nurse came in (a different one this time.) and replaced the one of the little bags above Serenity's bed. She gave them a small smile and left again. But before the door shut, Joey rushed after her. He grabbed her arm as she walking down the corridor.

"Miss, what happened to my sister??" He asked eagerly.

She lifted up an eyebrow and asked: "Your sister?"

"Yeah, the girl in room 302."

"Oh, didn't your friend told you?" She asked. "He was there." Joey's eyes widened. "They had an accident, they crashed into a car on a motorcycle." "Strangely enough, she didn't had a helmet or any kind of protection." The nurse continued. "The police is starting an investigation." After those words she left.

Joey returned to Serenity's room with a blank expression on his face. Tristan. Accident. No protection. Motorcycle. He opened the door and walked in. Through the windows daybreak could be seen.

"Hey, are you ok?" Tristan laid his hand on Joey's shoulder. Again he could smell the bitter sweet smell. It was on the tip of his tongue.

"Tristan, what happened to you and Serenity?" He wanted to hear Tristan say it.

"What do you mean??" Tristan asked, his voice slightly panicking.

"You had an accident, didn't you!?!?" Joey hissed. He pushed Tristan away. Mai looked up with a puzzled look on her face.

"It wasn't my fault, I swear!!!"

"Why was she unprotected???" "No helmet, no nothing!!!!!!!!"

"Who told you that!?!"

"Doesn't matter." Joey cut him off. "Just tell me exactly what happened." He brought his face close to Tristans. "Tell me."

Tristan let out a sigh. And this time Joey could smell it clearly. "You have been drinking, haven't you??" Joey gave Tristan a hard push, causing him to stumble backwards. All the pieces of the puzzle started to fall in place for Joey.

"Y-...I mean no!!!!" Tristan stuttered.

"Don't lie!!!" Joey yelled. "I can smell it!!!" He pushed Tristan again, but this time harder, what made Tristan fall on the ground. "How could you be so irresponsible!?!?!" "Look what you have done to her!!!!!" "I trusted you!!!!" "I would give anything if it could be me laying there!!!!" Tristan yelled back. "I curse every second that her eyes remain closed!!!!!" "You're not the only one that cares for her!!!!" He couldn't help himself, but saying that he blushed.

"I fucking don't believe you....."Joey hissed with tears in his eyes. "Get the hell out of my sight." When Tristan didn't move, Joey hit him on the eye in response. Tristan kicked him on the knee, causing Joey to fall. Mia bolted up from her seat.

"That's enough!!". She cried. "Tristan, get the hell out of this room!!" "You caused enough harm for one night!!!!"

Whiteout wasting one single word, Tristan stormed away angrily. Joey was sitting on the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks. Mai looked at him helpless, she always had a answer to everything, but when a guy was crying, she never knew what to say. She just knelt down and put her hand on his shoulder.

(~)

Deep in his heart he knew that Joey had every right in the world to be angry with him. The same was for Mai. He had drunk, not only the beer together with Serenity, but before that he had about two beers. He returned to his room on the second floor, where more unpleasant things awaited him.

Around 9 o'clock that morning the police came to interview him. It was done by an friendly looking woman, named WPC Nitta. "Well, Mr. Taylor, let's get to the point right away." She said smiling. "Why wasn't Ms......" She paused to have a look at her paper. "Wheeler wearing a helmet?" "Wasn't she your girlfriend?" "Isn't her safety supposed to be above your own, then?"

Despite how much Tristan would like to say that Serenity was his girlfriend, he decided it was better not to lie.

"No, she is the sister of a friend."

WPC Nitta lifted an eyebrow. "She should have worn a helmet anyway." "It's the law you know."

"I know." Tristan answered miserably.

"And the vehicle was yours?"

"Yes". The questions were awfully simple, but behind everyone was a death trap for Tristan. Or at least, that's the way he saw it.

"Did you drink?" Tristan remained silent. His mind was racing, if he would answer yes, the n thing could go very wrong for him, but he would be honest. If he answered no, then....they probably would find out anyway, and he would be even in deeper shit. But it was worth the risk. He had brushed his teeth, so she wouldn't smell it. He would be safe. For now.

He shook his head. "Mr. Taylor shakes his head,." WPC Nitta stated into the recorder. A few more questions followed before the interview came to an end. "As you may already know, there's an investigation going on about the accident. Here is a form you are obliged to fill up. We'll keep in touch." When Tristan was done filling up the form, that required all kinds of personal stuff, he was glad that he wasn't thrown into jail or something. Broken, he went home.

(~)

The last days passed like they never excited to Joey. Mai persuaded him to go to work, but there he was like a zombie. He ignored everybody. He never came late, to everybody's surprise, and that was just because he hardly slept at night. Every evening he went to the hospital together with Mai to see Serenity. For hours he would sit there and hold her hand, until Mai told him that it was time to go home. Sometimes Yugi would come too, and Tea had send a card, because she was to busy to come. Everyday Joey looked worse. He had dark rings around his eyes, and his face became pale and sad. Tristan tried to apologize but Joey just ignored him, when he tried again, they ended up fighting.

(~)

Carefully moving, letting out a soft moan, Serenity clutched her fingers on the soft fabric of her sheets. She tried to get up, but her whole body ached and her head felt heavy. With every move she made, it felt like a thousand knifes were stabbed through her body and pulled out. She heard the sound of an opening door.

"Hello?" She asked with a raspy voice, like she hadn't used it for ages. "Hello?"

"You are awake!" An almost hyperactive voice answered. "Stay down, or you'll pull your v-cords out." Serenity shivered. V-cords. Was she in a hospital? Why? She felt something in front of her eyes, bandages. Why did she have bandages in front of her eyes?? This must be really wrong.

"Where am I???" Serenity asked.

"In the hospital, darling".

"Why can't I see anything?"

"You had an accident, you fell on your head."

"What!?!?! When???"

"About a week ago. Stay down Miss, your to weak to go anywhere." The nurse said when Serenity tried to get up again. "You need rest." The small conversation was so exhausting to Serenity that when she laid her head on her pillow, she fell asleep instantly. That evening, when Joey heard that his sister woke up earlier that day, he started to look like the old Joey more and more every minute.

(~)

Serenity revalidated quickly, and after a few weeks the bandages on her head could be removed. Finally she would be able to see again. The bandages glide down her face and Serenity opened her eyes. But the moment she did that, she didn't knew if her eyes were still closed or open, because al she could see was complete darkness. Joey who had been eagerly waiting for this moment, because now she could go home, bought her a present. The moment she opened her eyes he said:

"Look what I bought for you!!" Look. She could only wish she could do that.

"I-I can't see........"Serenity stuttered, touching her face. Immediately a doctor rushed towards her. Joey was pushed out of the room.

"How many fingers I hold up?" He asked.

"I-I don't know!!!!!! I can't see!!!!" Serenity yelled. Emotions were taking over. Mostly anger. An hour later a specialist came to examine her eyes. In the mean time, Serenity sat alone in her room with Joey gift. A sketchbook and a pencil set. When the specialist, Mr. Sugi, examined her eyes, he didn't say a word. The only sound he made was an occasional groan, that sounded something like: "hnn" or "hmpf." Serenity, who was still a bit dull of all the drugs, was getting immensely tired of sitting up strait the whole time. Her neck ached and a sickening mix of fear and anger made her want to throw up. After about fifteen minutes, which was a very long time to Serenity, and a few series of hnn's and hmpf's later, she could hear Mr. Sugi pack his stuff. Before she could say anything, he said; "Don't worry miss, I'll spare you the medical details, but it's just temporally. Soon you'll be able to see again."

Serenity felt a wave of relief through her whole body. Soon she'll be able to see again. Soon.

Mr. Sugi closed the door to Serenity's room, immediately Joey ran up to him. Mr. Sugi shook his head.

(A/N): Happy Queensday everybody!!!!!! Sorry for not uploading so long, but i had a lot of tests at school, and my parents were angry with me because my compu had over one thousand viruses. O.o Anyway, everybody says that there's going to be an terrorist attack is the center of Amsterdam. Freaky......I'm glad I live far away of the center. It's now 12.15 in the afternoon, we'll see if I was right. Anywayz, I hope you enjoyed this chap, and the romance is coming soon, I promise. BTW, I know things don't go that way in a hospital, but this is fiction, k? Orange forever!!!!! God save the Queen!!! Greetz, LPCR