Chapter 7

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"Now, are you sure you're ready to go? It's taken a lot of work for you to get up the idea to go back, and I know you really want to go, but I'm asking you; are you ready?" Mr. Brodwick held tight to the shoulders of his patient, worry showing in every feature.

"Yes, I believe the only way I can go from here is up. Your help has gotten me to this point, and without you, I couldn't have ever thought to return, but now I must. I have to face this. I have to do this." The patient said, looking his doctor in the eye, pleading his case.

"Then all I can say from here is good luck. I've done what I can, and you've worked for this, and you know that I wouldn't let you go if I didn't think you were ready. I just need to know that you're ready." The young boy nodded, assuring his doctor that he had made up his mind. His doctor gave him one last look before leading him to his terminal. Waving goodbye, the doctor said a final farewell to his patient.

Walking down the hallway to his flight, the boy's light features turned almost menacing.

"Flight 032709 0315BE From Birmingham UK to Cairo Egypt Boarding now at terminal 22A" The PA announced.

"The key to my own body is in my hands . . . I'll not wait any longer." Bakura laughed, boarding his flight.

"What do you mean Egypt? I know that everything began in there, but don't we need the Millennium Items? They're not in Egypt any more." Yami said, confused.

"Yes, three of the Millennium Items are needed, but they are needed in a very specific place." Ishizu said, pulling out two books.

"What? Where?" She opened one in front of him, facing the text to him, and reading it upside down.

"The Temple of Khephera, God of Creation, in Heliopolis, and the Temple of Imhotep, God of Healing, in Philae. We need to bring the Millennium Puzzle, the Millennium Ring, and the Millennium Ankh." Ishizu said, pointing out locations and pictures of the Egyptian relics as she listed them. Yami looked over the map and pictures, then to the other book.

"And that book is for . . ." He asked, looking at the odd binding.

"This . . .I was going to give to you. It was found during a dig in Giza. We had uncovered another tomb . . .The tomb of the Unnamed Pharaoh. . . . You're tomb." Yami looked up at her in shock. " Often times, when a Pharaoh died, the high priest would write passages of a somewhat personalized book of the dead for the passing Pharaoh. For some reason, the high priest did not write a passage in your honor . . . so your most loyal of servants wrote an entire book, completely dedicated to you. This is key to bringing you back, seeing as the passages usually written are for the sole purpose of

to help you in your next life . .. this life.

"M-may I?" He asked, too far in shock to form any more words. Ishizu smiled, handing him a possession meant for him. He opened the book, and found himself instantly absorbed.

"What is it?" Joey asked exactly what was on Kaiba's mind. The doctor fixed his glasses, looking away.

"I'm afraid that her home situation is . . .not safe." He said, placing his glasses into his pocket. "While looking at the x-ray of her cracked ribs, I saw what looked like past bone fractures or brakes on other ribs." He pulled out the x-ray and pointed to several ribs where there were light differences in the bone. "These little lines across the ribs are actually bone that is thicker in density than the rest of the rib, showing that the rib had been fractured, cracked, or broken, but also had healed." Kaiba's eyes narrowed.

"But they're not just on the ribs." He said, pointing out a few more "healed fractures" on the x-ray.

"Yes, we found a few on her arms and her collarbone, so we decided to do a full body scan." the doctor paused to put up a few more x-rays of various parts of Serenity's body. "As you can see, they are visible on her legs and wrists as well. And . . . this isn't the only thing we noticed. There . . . seems to be quite a bit of scarring on her back, chest, and upper hips." The doctor finished. Kaiba clenched his fist, knowing what the doctor was trying to say.

"Well, this isn't the first time a gang . . . you know." Joey tried to reason. The doctor looked at him, sighing.

"Of course we would try to rationalize out any other idea of how she could become in such condition, but this kind of scarring is a bit too much for two or three gang attacks. Besides, most of the scarring took place a year or more ago . . .it's difficult to tell the exact time though." The doctor finished again.

"I . . . I don't remember much of my dad, but it's hard for me to think that he would . . ." Joey said. "My dad's an ass. He left me and Serenity to mom when we were little. He only recently came back and I've had nothin' to do with him. I . . . I just thought . . . I don't know." Joey said, sitting down hard, holding his head, and trying to sort through all of the new information. "I wanna talk to her." he finally said, calming down a bit. Kaiba on the other hand was cool as ice. He was already devising a plan of action, no matter what happened next.

The doctor, following Joey's wished, led the two boys into Serenity's room. She was awake, and laying flat on her bed. She smiled when she saw Joey enter, but that same smile faded as she watched the other male youth follow him in. She remembered that he had been the one to fight off her attackers and for that she was grateful, but something made her a bit uncomfortable with his presence.

"Ren," Joey said, taking her hand. "You gotta tell me the truth. The doctors showed us your x-rays, and told us about your scars." Serenity stiffened. Her eyes darted away from her big brothers, trying to find something that wasn't there. Joey's hand found her face, gently lifting it back to his. "Was it dad?" He asked. Serenity paused for a second and then sighed, from what seemed like relief.

"No, Joey." She smiled. Joey, and even Kaiba was a bit thrown off by this. She sighed again, smile leaving her face again. " Joey . . . about a year ago . . .when mom died, and dad took me in, I . . .I was seeing someone. He was much older than me, but . . .I thought I was in love." Joey's grip tightened on her hand. "Joey, for the first few months he was great, but . . . then he lost his job . . . and started . . .drinking . . .and . . .I just thought . . ." Tears began to line her eyes. "Dad wouldn't hurt me." She said, wiping the wetness away.

"Who . . . Ren, who was it?" Joey asked, grip getting tighter.

"Joey, you don't have to worry. I don't have to worry about that. . . .Dad . . .took care of him . . ." She said, looking away.

"What do you mean, 'took care of him'?" Kaiba asked, saying something for the first time in her presence.

"I . .. don't know what he did . . .but I never saw him again . . .not even a phone call." Joey softened again. Serenity looked him in the eyes. "Joey, Dad wouldn't hurt me, I . . .I actually owe him."

Back at home, after an exhausting day off, Kaiba sat behind his desk. Thoughts raced through his mind. Serenity's story . . . he couldn't tell if it was real or not. Why would she defend her father, if it wasn't. Did she have something to lose?

'Other than the roof over her head, food to eat and a bed to sleep in?' a voice in Kaiba's head sarcastically informed. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on his palms. She was so believable. It wasn't like Kaiba to be doubting himself. He strained his mind, looking for a reason not to believe her . . .Body language? No, it was perfect . . .tone of voice? No also perfect . . . Story credibility? . . . still perfect! Kaiba slammed his fists against the desk.

Wait . . . perfect? Nothing was perfect. Her flaw wasn't actually a flaw . . .the flaw was in the perfection.

But . . . it could just mean she was telling the truth. Kaiba's fist hit the desk again.

Why the hell did he care so badly?

'Because,' His mind piped up again, 'Your afraid of her turning into you.' Kaiba shook his head.

"She would never be like me." He answered himself.

'You've already seen her start. The way she shuts down when she gets hurt. How she lies and pretends like nothing bothers her. All that needs to happen now is for her to realize what a hurtful world it is, and that she's better of just shutting down forever.' His mind relayed, making him realize just how jaded he'd become. 'Just like you.'

"No!" Kaiba stood quickly, knocking his chair back into the wall behind him.

"Seto?" Kaiba looked up to see that Mokuba had cracked the door open, and was peeking inside. "are you ok?" Little Mokuba said, looking a bit scared. "I heard about what happened today, at the office." Seto sighed, picking up the chair and sitting down in it again.

"It was just an off day, Moki." Seto said, squeezing the bridge of his nose, and trying to relax.

"Really . . . cause I also saw the news." Kaiba stopped, and stared up at Mokuba, looking for an explanation. "Is Serenity ok?" Mokuba tried to look as innocent as possible.

" . . . yes." Kaiba sighed, readying himself to start his own explanation.

"Happy Sunday Seto!" Mokuba said, running down the stairs, passing him. Kaiba grabbed him by the back of his sweatshirt, stopping him in his tracks. He placed the boy behind him on the stairs, semi-crouching to face him.

"No running." he said before giving the boy a light push, throwing him off balance, and forcing him to sit. Seto then turned, taking off down the large staircase.

"CHEATER!" Mokuba yelled, laughing and trying to catch up to his big brother. Kaiba made it to the kitchen first, but waited by the wall, next to the door. The second Mokuba came in Kaiba came up from behind him, lifting him up, and placed him onto a counter-top.

"What flavor today?" Mokuba said, excitedly.

"I was thinking . . . Chocolate batter, with chocolate chips and hot fudge sauce on top." Kaiba said, watching the boy's eyes get bigger every time chocolate was mentioned. Mokuba opened his mouth to say yes, but an indistinct "aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh" came out instead.

"Well, I guess we can just have regular." Kaiba said, picking up the chocolate chips and beginning to put them away. Mokuba jumped down from the counter, grabbing the chocolate chips and hissing dramatically at his big brother.

"You could have just said, 'yes, please'." Kaiba said, smirking. He began mixing the pancake batter while Mokuba drooled beside him.

"How's Serenity?" Mai asked, playing with a lock of Joey's hair. Joey brushed the hair back, out of his eyes, and looked up at her.

"She's doing ok. Gonna be in the ICU until tonight, but she should be well enough to go to school." He said, getting up from the couch to get a piece of pizza. Mai sat and waited for him to come back.

"Did the police catch the guys who did it?" She asked, repositioning herself so Joey could sit next to her.

"No . . . I know them, they're not very smart, but they're lucky." Joey said. He took on a bitter tone, letting her know to drop the subject. "Mai . . . I . . . I know you're gonna tell me not to worry . . . but . . . I cant stop thinkin . . . what if it was you?" Joey said, surprising Mai.

"I love you're sister, but I would have put up a better fight. Joey, I can take care of myself. I've been doing pretty well so far, right?" She said, letting humor slip into her voice.

"I know . . . but-"

"No buts. I woulda had a pile of half-dead gangsters in the middle of your apartment, begging to be brought to jail, where I couldn't get at them." She said. Joey laughed out at that, and they hugged.

"Yea . . .you're my guard-girlfriend." He joked. Mai gave him a soured face.

"Are you somehow calling me a dog?" She said, sounding offended.

"N-no! That's not what I meant, I. . .I just mea-"

"I know what you SAID." Mai backed Joey into the wall, making him swallow hard.

"M-Mai . . I would never!" Mai faced him down with a glare. He was soo cute when he was nervous and scared. She smiled, almost laughing, and threw him off.

" . . . Mai! You can't do that to me!" He said, holding his heart.

"It's fun." She giggled, backing away from him, and letting him breath.

"Mai, you know I cant tell when you're serious or not!" he tried to catch his breath.

"Why not? It's easy."

"Not when you get in one of you moods . . ." Mai fixed him with a glare, more menacing than last time.

"What did you just say?" He stopped dead. She was starting to get back up and Joey edged towards the door.

"I-I mean . . . crap."

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See? No cliffhanger this time . . . Happy??? T.T

Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm glad to have more readers joining in on the fun. Well, read, review, and . . . ENJOY! ^.^