When vengeance goes too far
Chapter 3: Serenity devastated
Disclaimer- I don't own the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! They are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shonen Jump, Konami and Shueisha comics.
Clouds had been gathering above the city of Domino all day and now they let loose their water load. The rain came down in torrents and lightning lit up the sky. After the recent heat wave that had gripped the city, the coming of the rain announced its end. However, the depressing weather fitted the mood of Serenity and Joey Wheeler, who were at the hospital seeing if their mother, who had been admitted there after apparently being beaten was.
Joey, even though he hated his mother, blaming her for separating him and Serenity was still worried. After all, despite the fact that she had a negative impact on Joey's life, she was still his mother, plus even Joey didn't hate her to the point where he wanted her dead. Besides, he knew how Serenity felt about her and despite the fact that it made him uneasy, he decided to do what was best for his sister.
Serenity on the other hand was absolutely devastated. After the whole incident at school in which someone had pretty much swapped their test paper with hers, seeing her room and most treasured possessions trashed and now this, she had done a pretty good job at fighting back her tears, but she was breaking point now and her tears were threatening to flow freely.
"Be strong Serenity," Joey, said, "I'm sure ma'll be alright."
"I'll try Joey," Serenity, replied, "But it's very hard for me."
Joey looked at Serenity. She was basically an emotional wreck. Joey was guessing that Kaiba was behind this since Serenity had pretty much humiliated him a few days earlier. Joey growled. Kaiba had gone too far. Sure he expected Kaiba to do something in retaliation for what Serenity did to him, but he never imagined that Kaiba would take it this far. Serenity was only thirteen going on fourteen-years-old and Kaiba was eighteen.
"You'll pay for dis rich boy," Joey, thought, "Mark my words, if Serenity becomes suicidal, I won't rest till I've run ya inta bankruptcy and bring yer Kaiba Corp building down with ma own two hands."
In the lobby, Yugi, Tristen and Tea arrived.
"So why's Joey here?" Tristen, said, "Did something happen to him?"
"I hope not," Yugi said.
"There he is," Tea said.
Joey and Serenity joined their friends and told them what had happened, including Serenity's fixed results and the wrecking of her room.
"Kaiba," Yami hissed, as he appeared beside Yugi, "I bet that it was him."
"Now that's not fair to jump to conclusions," Yugi protested.
"You saw how Serenity humiliated him," Yami, said, "This is no doubt part of his revenge plan, though I was really hoping that he wouldn't take it this far."
Later, Joey and Serenity sat in Mrs Wheeler's room. Mrs Wheeler was unconscious and Serenity looked at her. Joey could see that Serenity was absolutely crushed. He had to give her credit though. So far, she did a good job at holding it all back, but he knew that she couldn't keep it up for much longer. He was relieved when the doctor said that his mother hadn't suffered any permanent or serious injuries. In fact, she could leave in a few days provided she woke up.
Back in the lobby, Yugi, Tristen and Tea waited. Tristen paced the length of the seats impatiently with Yugi and Tea sat waiting anxiously. Tea was getting annoyed with Tristen's pacing. However, he wasn't attracting attention since it was a hospital they were in and everyone just assumed that he was impatiently awaiting news on a loved one.
"Will you stop that?" Tea, said, "It's getting dead annoying."
"I can't help it," Tristen, protested, "Joey's been gone for an hour and Serenity's almost crying. I can't take it."
"Well at least sit down," Tea, said, "There's a few magazines for you to read." She handed Tristen a magazine about cars. Tristen reluctantly took it and sat down. However, his impatience was still pretty much evident on his face.
Yugi looked in the direction that Joey took Serenity off in. He was worried about Joey. He knew that Joey would automatically assume that Kaiba was involved and would do something stupid, not that he could blame him. Yugi had a feeling that it was Kaiba as well, but unlike Yami, he refused to believe it without proof. Yugi liked to think of Kaiba as a friend, but it was obvious that Kaiba didn't feel the same way, which slightly upset Yugi. At least Mokuba felt differently. However, Yugi wonder that if it was Kaiba, did Mokuba know about it and more importantly, was he in on it? Yugi doubted it. True, Mokuba stuck by his brother even though Kaiba had shown his true colours in his brother's presence before. Blood's thicker than water, Yugi figured that that was true with the way Mokuba defended his brother. However, even Mokuba had his limits, didn't he? Mokuba was a nice kid and it seemed that if Kaiba was planning something evil, he would keep his brother in the dark.
Anyway, Yugi decided that he'd only believe that it was Kaiba if he was given actual proof.
"Sometimes you can be too forgiving for your own good Yugi," Yami thought.
"I heard that," Yugi, said, "Don't forget, I can read your thoughts."
Yami just groaned.
Back in Mrs Wheeler's room, Joey got up and said, "I need some fresh air sis, can I leave you?"
Serenity looked at her brother and said, "Be back soon Joey, I don't know what I'll do without you."
Joey smiled.
"Relax sis," he said, "I'll only be gone a few minutes. Besides, if ma wakes up, I doubt she'd be happy to see me."
Serenity said, "I guess." She knew of Joey and her mother's feelings towards each other. However, despite the fact that she'd been with her mother since she was six, she still loved her brother. He was a big inspiration to her. Whenever she felt down in the past, she always thought of Joey and it helped her get through those hard times. However, this time was different. One of her other family members was hurt and even the doctor's assurances weren't enough to console her. She felt as if her world was crumbling down around her and now her tears were almost at the point where they'd flow freely.
Joey walked outside and into the cover of the hospital parking lot. It was still raining and he had no intentions of getting soaked. He needed to think things out. He was positive that Kaiba was the one behind this. Being the pride-filled guy Kaiba was, Joey knew that he would've tried to do something to Serenity in retaliation for his humiliation, but he never imagined that he'd go this far, though he had known that Kaiba did have the resources. He was the richest person in the city and was head of the world's greatest gaming corporation. With that much power at his disposal, plus his attitude, Joey could honestly said that Kaiba could've easily caused Serenity to disappear off the face of the Earth and erase all evidence of her existence and if he could've done that, then hacking into a school's computer network and changing a grade, as well as getting someone to give Serenity a false test paper was a piece of cake.
"Are you Joey Wheeler?" came a voice.
"Who wants ta know," Joey said as he turned round and saw the same short bald man that his mother had seen along with the same six musclemen dressed in business suits. However, unlike his mother, Joey knew who he was.
"You're Hobson right, Kaiba's butler?" he said.
"Very perspective Mr Wheeler," the small man said, "Nothing personal though, we're just following Mr Kaiba's orders."
"So it was that snake," Joey, growled, "I knew it all along."
Hobson snapped his fingers and the six musclemen advanced on Joey. Joey stood his ground and threw a punch at the nearest guy, but the guy just grabbed Joey by the wrist and the others moved in and started punching and kicking him. Joey tried to fight back, but there were six of them and only one of him, though he did manage to land a knee-blow into one of the men's… sensitive area (I bet you already know what I mean). However, Joey was overwhelmed, but suddenly, when he thought that he was going to get beaten to death, Joey heard Hobson snap his fingers. The six musclemen stopped and moved away from Joey, one of them, the one that had received the knee-blow glared at him, as he limped backwards.
"Well, well, well," a new voice said, a voice that Joey despised, "It seems that the mutt has finally been put in his place."
"Kaiba you heartless bastard," Joey, said, "I knew it was you all along."
Kaiba just smiled and said, "Did you now Wheeler? You'd need a brain for that and last time I checked, he have none."
"Mark my words Kaiba," Joey, said gritting his teeth, "You'll regret what you did to my sister and when I'm through with you, you'll be dealing with bankruptcy and I'll take great pleasure in rippin' Kaiba Corp headquarters apart with my bear hands. You'll be sorry."
Kaiba just laughed.
"Oh really Wheeler," he boasted, "You're in no position to threaten me. I just came here so that I could give you a message for that whore of a sister of yours. Tell her that I'll not be satisfied until she's broken beyond repair and that if she never wanted this then she should've never have stuck her nose where it doesn't belong." He kicked Joey in the stomach just for good measure.
"Let's go," he said, "I've been around this dog so much that I think I may have gotten some of its fleas all over me."
Hobson and the six musclemen followed Kaiba out of the parking lot. "Dat damn Kaiba," Joey, said, "He'll regret dis. I'll make sure of it." He got to his feet and limped back to the hospital. He ached all over and his face was a mess. He figured that he had several broken ribs and a broken nose. His left eye was swollen and was almost completely closed. He managed to reach the corridor when he collapsed on the floor right in front of a hospital worker, who was just going home.
Meanwhile, Serenity was getting worried about Joey. He'd been gone for a full half-hour and Serenity was now getting worried. At first Serenity thought that he had left, not wanting to be there when their mother woke up, but she quickly dismissed the thought, knowing that he wouldn't put his hatred for his mother before the love he had for her. Joey wouldn't abandon her. Despite the fact he hated his mother, he was willing to put it aside for Serenity's sake.
Suddenly, a doctor came in and said, "Miss Wheeler."
"Yeah," Serenity, said, "I'm her."
The doctor looked at Serenity sadly. Serenity gasped, fearing that her mother was dying and that the doctors had made a mistake and had just realised it.
"I'm afraid I have bad news concerning your brother," the doctor said, "Apparent, someone attacked him out in the parking lot. One of our staff who'd just finished his shift found him lying in the corridor while on his way to the parking lot. We assume that he came from there."
"No," Serenity said. This was all she needed. First the test score, then her room, her possession, her mother and now her brother. Kaiba couldn't really have felt that humiliated when she pushed him, did he? Sure, she was aware that as the richest guy in Domino and the owner of the World's biggest gaming corporation, he had the resources to pull off far worse revenge tactics. He could've had her killed and disappear and he even had the resources to destroy all evidence of her existence. However, instead he chose to devastate her emotionally and now, she was emotionally devastated. The tears that she'd held back since discovering her destroyed possessions now flowed freely.
"Joey…" she cried, "JJJJOOOOEEEEYYYY!"
She ran out of the room and into the lobby where Yugi, Tristen and were still waiting for news.
"Serenity," Tristen, said, "What's up?"
"Joey's been… Joey's been…," Serenity tried to say, but she suddenly just latched onto Tristen and cried on his shoulder.
"Joey had a fight with his mom?" Tristen said embracing Serenity. Since he had hung around with Joey the longest, he knew more about the situation between Joey and his mother better than anyone else aside from Serenity.
"You misunderstand," the doctor, the same doctor that told Serenity of Joey's predicament said as he entered the lobby, "Mr Wheeler was apparently attacked in the parking lot."
"The parking lot," Tea, said, "What was he doing there?"
"He went out to get a breath of air…" Serenity managed to say before burying her head in Tristen's chest.
"Kaiba," Yami, growled, "He's reached a whole new low."
Yugi just sighed. There was no use denying it anymore. Everything that had happened that day had made Serenity upset and from what the evidence suggested, it was clear that it was the culprit's intention to completely devastate Serenity and Kaiba was the only person that they knew of who was out to get her. After all, to think that a guy like Kaiba wouldn't be out for revenge after suffering a humiliation like the one he suffered would be downright foolish. Serenity was now completely devastated. Though it was obvious that Joey and Mrs Wheeler would recover, the damage done to Serenity's emotion was great. Not very many people knew that Serenity's emotional state was always on the brink of breaking down ever since she and Joey were separated. Since then, she had been shy and because of this, she failed to make friends. She had been lonely. Sometimes, her classmates would offer her their friendship, but she turned them down out of fear that they'd eventually reject her because of her quiet nature.
Yami took over Yugi's body
"KKKKKAAAAAIIIIIBBBBBAAAAA!" he yelled, startling everyone in the room.
Meanwhile, Kaiba stood in the shadow of a support pillar in the lobby. Even he was startled at Yami's outburst, though he believed that it was Yugi. Luckily for him, having his scare didn't alert the others to his presence. He had come to see Serenity's state and it was better than he'd hoped for. He watched as Yami, Tristen and Tea led Serenity back towards her mother's room. He smirked and then walked towards the exit, but as he was leaving, he looked back at the corridor that the "geek squad" had taken Serenity down and a look of concern started to form on his face. However, he quickly shook his head.
"What was that?" he thought, "This is what I wanted. Time to go and make sure that she never recovers from this."
However, even as he walked towards his waiting limo, part of him was beginning to become concerned about Serenity and guilt began invading Kaiba's mind, though at the moment, he was able to shake it off, but as time progressed it was becoming more and more difficult.
Author's notes: Now Kaiba's conscience is beginning to catch up with him. Will he be able to realise that he's made a mistake and apologise to not just Serenity, but Joey as well? (As if Joey would forgive him). Next chapter, Kaiba's conscience continues to haunt him and to make matters worse, Mokuba finds out and decides that enough's enough and tell his brother exactly what he thinks of him. To clarify Serenity being easily devastated, as I said before, when it came to planning what Kaiba would do in retaliation for his humiliation, I suffered from Writer's Block and thought I'd work my way round it by using Serenity's past when she was separated from Joey as an explanation. By the way, for those of you who don't know who Hobson is, Hobson is Kaiba's butler. He made a brief appearance in the first episode when Kaiba sent for Solomon and later on he was seen in Noah's virtual flashbacks during the Noah Saga and Gozaburo and Kaiba addressed him as Hobson and since he was the one that Kaiba sent to get Solomon, I felt that he'd make the perfect guy to do Kaiba's dirty work because in my opinion, Roland doesn't seem the type that would do something like that and have no regrets afterwards .