Author's Rant: Here's the next chapter. Thank you so very much for the support all of you are giving this story. Please excuse any mistakes.

Warnings: Character Death.

Ignite

Atem's heart was racing.

All surrounding sounds were mute.

Nothing around him existed because his gaze focused in a tunnel, blocking all around it with stiff boundaries and towards the end was the light that shun so dim and distant. Sweat boiled at his hairline, tumbling in jagged trails down the side of his face as anxiety cut off any air to his lungs.

"Kisara," he gasped weakly, as if his voice were grasping something out of stretch.

She was out of his reach. Close enough to see the stretch marks and bruising around her face and too far away from her father to receive the gentle and assuring hug that'd guarantee everything would be OK. No such thing would come to pass. If the man holding the gun jammed deep into her vertebrate had anything to say about it.

Atem's fingers strongly gripping around his gun handle, gave way to the rough pebbled imprint digging into his palm and the soreness doing nothing to interfere with the resulting panic sneaking up his spine and into his throat.

"Well, I see everyone's ready to have the game rules explained since we have all the intended players present," The Supreme said, loud and boastful. "Now, no interrupting because I'm that kind of spoiled sport who hates to lose. We're going to play the game my way—eh, you don't mind, do you Yami? After all, you are the King of Games, as they say." His teeth gleamed in the afternoon sunshine, silvery and a spotless sparkle.

The Supreme's large, beefy fingers clamped around Yugi's throat from behind. He bent over, lips pressed into his ear and voice amused and hollow. "The rules are simple and the ending result easy to obtain. I have no desire of truly killing this boy, so in exchange, you pass Yami over to me and we'll make the swipe. Seems easy, yeah?" His teeth grazed Yugi's ear and his finger's let up to allow the blood circulation to flow.

Yugi wheezed for all the time allowed, stickiness and wetness saturating the front of his tattered t-shirt red. He was forced up from his knees scraping the asphalt and the thick appendages slithered their way back around his windpipe, tightly captive, but loosely merciful.

"If this boy isn't worth the loss of your leader, trust and believe, it's no loss on my end either. Age means nothing to me. I'll find a use for him."

Yugi suddenly gasped but no air was forthcoming, the grip now a meaty noose, hiking up under his Adam's apple. He could feel a perspiring forehead against the base of his head and it rumbled when his kidnapper let out a long, drawn out groan into his ear.

"You don't mind sticking arounda while longer, do you kid?" A hot tongue pressed against Yugi's ear and millions of swimming black dots swarmed his vision like a horde of bees from the disgusting sensation. "Do you?" came the sharp demand and equally sharp squeeze.

His eyes burned from the direct punishing sunlight, his face felt swollen and the stretching stab wound in his neck felt like stitches unraveling at the seam. "N-No—ack—no," Yugi whispered in a ghostly voice.

"Mmm good boy." Then the smooth roll of the Supreme's hips and unmistakable press of his large dick pressed into the middle of Yugi's back. "You know what, I just might keep you around for a little bit; see what the fuss is all about with this gay shit spreading across town." The culturally poisonous voice in his ear sizzled, thrusting tauntingly against him for every word uttered.

To Yugi's inward horror, the seam of his sweatpants dipped away from his waist. Hysteria built up in his mind and the feel of dry, calloused fingers palming the plump of his ass and him groaning and weakly shaking. He was squeezed, nails crawling up the seam of his ass cheeks, and under where his thighs met. He wanted to fight, kick, scratch, anything to rid himself of the icy bereft settling in his stomach. Yugi moaned miserably when, suddenly the hot hand surged and shamelessly cupped the bulge in his crotch. Down, up, up down, no pattern, no mercy, no kind of stimulating purpose, but a purpose to humiliation and urge into false pleasure.

"Please," Yugi sucked in a harsh breath, the rush of oxygen straining his slashed neck as agonizing arousal bubbled in his groin. He cried out, terribly lightheaded and aroused tremendously when his dick was softly stroked.

"That's the kind of noise he makes when you fuck him isn't it Yami?"

Yami's clenched fists turned his knuckles ash white.

The Supreme pumped harder, faster. Blood spilled over his hand, fastened harder around Yugi's neck as he panted, wheezed, and choked, legs spasming.

"Does he cry out your name so sweet, make your toes tingle that you fuck him through the bed?"

Faster and harder, he stroked, billowing the front of Yugi's pants in swift, irregular. He looked at the Red Eyes Leader, standing in place, never reacting to any of his ministrations, but he wouldn't fool anyone. Yami's facial expressions or words ever expressed how he emotionally felt. It was all in his cruel red eyes, narrowed to slits, so dark red and thin across his face they looked like paper cuts.

He took all of the Supreme's actions in excruciatingly slow detail, mind flipping at the speed of light for ways to save Yugi and Kisara, while controlling the enraged monster that clawed at the edge of his mind to take his chances and spray the entire area with hot metal. Yugi's stomach curling whimpers sickened Yami immensely, worst then any vomiting disease. His fingers flexed, his feet shifted and then he was digging in his back pocket for the three guns lunged in the rim of his pants.

Each one placed on the ground, side by side, and the extra magazines emptied from his pockets. He raised his hands up, face a sinister glare. "I'm right here."

Everyone, everything seemed to fall deathly quiet. Even Kisara's sniffling cries dampened and vanished.

The Supreme didn't reply immediately. His hand pulled away from the inside of Yugi's pants as he dipped his head, a tight satisfied smile stretched across his tanned face. The only sigh he gave to the agreement was a forward thrust of his wrist and several of his men appearing from the sides of the street, running up to Yami.

"Fuck that!"

That unexpected tone came from the last person Yami hoped to be so damn stupid and the free lanced gunshot up in the air to scare off the Brotherhood boys from touching Yami, only confirmed it was Joey running up behind him with his gun drawn and brown eyes darting wildly at all who would think to oppose him. Yami looked at the blond with unreadable eyes when he stalled by his side, not making visual contact, but grabbing at Yami's arm and yanking him back towards the main group.

Joey growled low in his throat, sounding as if he were ready to turn into a beast. "You killed my boys, threaten to take the O's man and then what? You gonna make some bullshit ass trade and expect everybody to fall for that shit? Fuck that, I'll take you out myself, consequences be damned!" His thumb paused on the back lock, aimed dead between the enemies smile induced eyes. "Here's what the real rules are to this game. You're gonna let the kids go, then you and your pack of pussies can skedaddle up outta here by the count of ten and you'll pray I remember how to count that high 'cause sometimes I go straight from ten to two!"

"Aww, now that's just precious. Yami I concede that your family's loyalty is admirable. Stupid as hell, but admirable nonetheless. I guess he's used to eating brass."

"No!" Yami raged. His fist balled and swung.

Joey's jaw burned and throbbed on impact as if he'd sprinted right into a brick wall. Darkness threatened to pepper in his eyes, but he shook it off before it enveloped him and scrambled up to his feet, fists clench and teeth grinding.

"We can't let him have it his way, O! Did you see what he did to Mai? Did you see—" a rough sniffle distorted the strong tone in his voice. "Didn't you see what he did to Akefia? To Valon and Ishizu? He shot them stone dead and for what? For his bullshit ass amusement! I can't let you go out like that! I can't. Even for the sake of that kid, you can't end it like that!"

"I'm dead either way Joey." Yami coldly and quietly said to the frantic youth. "That's my heart he's got in his hands and crying on the ground." Then he turned that sinister glare up at the watery brown gaze. "I've fucked myself up, letting these two in my life, 'cause look what happened? If they're killed then he may as well have put the bullet straight through my head instead."

"Then let's come up with a better idea then lettin' this fool get ahold of you! You know what's gonna happen when they get you!" Joey said, blocking Yami's view of their enemy. He dropped his hands on Yami's shoulders, eye shining with tears. His nails dug through the cotton material, drew tiny specks of warm blood. "Please, O, please. Don't make me beg for you to stay alive. I'm not about losin' my family in front of my eyes. I can't deal with that shit again. I can't."

Yami's eyes opened a small slither and the consent Joey hoped for, came crashing down with these next words. "That's why you need to stay out of this one, J.R. If you can't understand then move outta my way. I'm willin' to die for what's mine." His gaze hardened, as did the sudden grip he had around Joey's collar. With one twist and swirl, he slung his subordinate as far as his strength allowed.

It would be a poor decision on Yami's part as when he released his own on Joey, the angle left him staring right into Atem's demonically angry and petrified gaze. There were so many phrases coming from that glare. 'Why kill yourself for someone else's child? Why risk your life knowing it might not work? Why do this? Do you care what might happen to you, Yugi and Kisara? Why the fuck don't you care?'

All of those could be summed up in one sentence. Yami winked. "I'll always ride or die for mine."

Pounding footsteps clamored across the asphalt, so many and amusing cackles growing massive as if the only sounds to exist in time and space. Yami felt the rough tugs on his arms, the kegging sneakers kicking at his ankles until he kneeled and the surrounding press of used, heated metal touching the center of his forehead, the middle of his vertebrate, where his blood pulsed through his jugular and the round bob of his Adam's apple.

There was no emptiness in his eyes, no betrayal of fear or regret. His eyes shun just as bright as the day he was given his first handgun and told to kill a traitor by shooting him between his eyes. Remaining finely poised and back stiff with pride, he kept his eyes up, never to stare at the ground where the dead finally laid.

It felt like wet embers flared up Yugi's throat in sour disdain. This wasn't fair. Not for him. Not this way. He wasn't worth it. 'Save Kisara,' he wanted to say. 'Forget you ever met me,' he would've screamed. 'Why another reason to end your fucking life, but don't let it be because of me,' he desperately wished to shout. But fate was the kind of cruel devil to play this kind of game.

Yugi felt his knees buckling under his weight that felt heavy as twenty-ton lead. The Supreme's death grip was all that kept Yugi afloat to this negative reality, to the devastating defeat he felt welling up in his beaten body.

"Why?"

Yugi bit his bottom lip as the tears stung through his blackened eyes and burned the cuts on his cheek. He'd wanted to say that one word, but the last person he wanted to say was crying fresh tears and curling into herself. She shivered on the ground as if not a trace of the summer heat affect her.

"Why are you so mean?" Kisara whispered up to her captive. "Why?"

The Supreme lazily angled his head down and curved his mouth into a nasty grin. "Why indeed, baby girl?" He dropped Yugi from his hand and decided to change his tact a little. "Do you want me to show you how nice I can be?" He reached out to her.

Kisara flinched back fast and crawled on her hands and knees over to Yugi's crumbled body, burying herself in his hair. "Yugi . . ." she whimpered. "Stop being mean to him. He's my friend."

"But I want him to be my friend too," he mocked and wiped away a fake tear from his eye. "He just didn't want to be mines."

"That's because you're—you're heartless," she hiccupped, rubbing at her runny red nose. "You hit us a lot and did naughty things he didn't like. Friends don't act like that. No one's gonna like you if you don't be kind."

"You don't say? One thing you'll learn in this kind of world brat is the less friends you have the better off you'll be. But I don't expect you to understand."

"But I know stuffs too." Kisara wiped the eyes from her eyes and leveled a harder look at him. "I know that—that you're wrong about everything. People always need friends. It's not that you can't find any real friends. It's real friends that don't want to be around you."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!" She shot up to her feet, fists balled at her side. "And you know what? My grandpa says people who do bad stuffs like you only hurt others because—because you're hurting inside. But this time, I think my grandpa is wrong! You're not hurting! You're just a stinky, stupid devil who's out for blood!"

"Ki-kisara-a," Yugi squirmed with painstaking purpose to turn his face upward and spoke through the blood souring his windpipes. "Sh-shhh-shhh. Please."

His warning wasn't heeded. Kisara dropped to her knees near the top of his head and gently combed her fingers through his hair. She proved to the Supreme right then when her blue eyes landed on him with the intensity of a thousand suns that if grown she would be more than a challenge for him, and maybe her father for the throne of street lord.

"You're never gonna be kind and no one is ever gonna wanna be your friend . . . I hope my Daddy kills you," then her voice dropped diabolically to a poisonous snarl. "'Cause if he doesn't, I will."

He smirked, mildly amused. "Very promising speech, child. But as the saying goes, you can only talk so much because they call your bark."

Kisara chewed her bottom lip fiercely before vigorously shaking her head, entangling dingy, sweat-matted locks around her face and neck. "Dogs bark to warn people bad stuff might happen. I don't bark, I bite. So tell that 'saying' person that!"

"Is that right?"

"Yeah that's right!" Kisara shouted with heightened ferocity. "I'm not afraid of you, but you should be afraid of me. You don't know my Daddy. He's gonna get you for hurting me and Yugi and—and he'll make you bleed slowly and I will sit in his lap while we laugh at your screams!"

All the fear the Supreme had beaten into her was gone. The blacken rings around her eyes, the raw redness in her cheeks and the slit line in her lips, were nonfactors. The way her expression twisted, her eyes dilated and all her tiny teeth bared, he knew she'd live up to her word. And that kind of threat needed to be dealt with before it festered into something untouchable.

The control he kept locked away burst free. Anger masked his common sense, the patience he prided himself in having was vanquished by the tiny, unforgiving words of this five-year-old child, this monstrous threat. The longer he stared down at the unyielding glare she cast towards him, the irritated he became. Not even his son had this kind of merciless death swimming in his eyes, the sickened thrill of witnessing your victim's blood pool at your feet.

The Supreme laughed then, a short chilling ugly sound as if gathered from the bottom of the ocean. His eyebrow rose and he tilted his head to the side, pearly white teeth gleaming under his mustache. He lunged forward and almost snagged her by her hair, but Yugi apparently still had some fight in him. His legs jerked out and clamped around the Supreme's ankle.

He braced his hands on the ground to manage his landing, but that foolish move caused a sudden disruption in the order.

"Move in!" He heard Atem's voice boom and gunfire renewed.

Son of a bitch. That was the one deep disadvantage the Brotherhood had in comparison to the Red and Blue Eye families. No one in the Brotherhood will act without a signal from their leader. The rival's men would act on their own in any disorderly fashion that'd benefit their leader.

Heavy foot pounding flooded the scenery, shouts rang out and bullets whistled like firecrackers overhead. Ducking down flat, the Supreme covered his head, cursing violently. A miscalculation on his part that'd soon be rectified. His hand patted around and found what he was looking for. His fingers coiled and gave a strong yank.

Yugi's body was leveled with his. His dull purple eyes flared like comet streams. No fear in his gaze either. "Guess the deal's off," he coughed and grinned. "T-t-too bad."

"You have no idea." The Supreme's mouth curled in cold arrogance as his hand slapped with the force of a sledgehammer across Yugi's throat.

Those purple eyes behind the stringy blond strands were flashing like fire, through the engrossing pain that danced through never nerve in his body. Over and over, the Supreme slapped his palm flat over the knife slash, laughing over the gunfire at the youth's fidgeting jolts and choking gasps. Then he laid his hand there and pressed with his fingers stabbing through the poorly structured bandages, savoring the slush innards, sweat and sticky blood under his nails.

There was a blinding infinite of agony, seconds lasting as long as full years. Then it all together ceased. Yugi's eyes struggled to open. The Supreme's head jerked forward, struck from behind with a strong blow, meant to stun, but may as well caused his death.

"Cousin Seth!" Kisara squealed.

Yugi's breath caught in the back of his throat. He rolled his head to the side, able for a brief moment to see his savior. The tears came on their own, hot and profuse with wet relief.

The gun back the back of the Supreme's head dented a deep groove through his long hair. "Yeah, that's right. You know what this is," Seth's smooth, charisma voice washed over him like glacier water. "Get down, all the way down." His gun barrel guided the Supreme flat on his stomach, arms and legs spread evenly around him.

"Well, well, isn't this a surprise?" The Supreme chuckled and coughed, flecks of blood sputtering near his lips. "Didn't think I'd have the honor of meeting you this close." Two quick pistol whips ripped across his temple.

Then Seth returned the gun's aim. "I suggest you keep your mouth shut. I'm not my cousin. Killing you now then later won't make a difference to me."

"Why not pull the trigger? I'm unarmed. Go ahead and finish it."

Seth's smirk nastily. "Didn't you hear my sweet little cousin? If her father didn't kill you then she would. I believe she deserves the honor of spilling her kidnapper's blood . . . but I wouldn't get the idea of assuming it'll be a simple gunshot. Five-year-olds can be very innovative these days." He smacked his hand on the Supreme's cheek. "Be ready for a little fun when this is all said and done."

He held him at gunpoint as the victory quickly fell towards the rightful side. Seth rose to his feet, uncaring of the speeding bullets and tires screeching in the distance. He took his eyes from the Supreme once, just a small instant to see Atem and Yami, back to back, two guns in each hand, taking out a man with each shot. Both wore tight lip, maddening grins, the same they'd always wear when excited for the next kill.

A blinding glare slide over his eyes, momentary distorting his eyes from the scene playing. He heard a gasp, a feminine scream that could only be his little cousin and then a jolt of a million flaming spears puncturing his chest, ripping through his ribcage and out his back. Again and again, the pain came; each more determined to be as painful as the last.

Seth staggered back on his feet, suddenly feeling heavier then he'd ever felt in his life. Stupid. So fucking stupid, he inwardly raged at himself for taking his eyes off the Supreme's movements. He'd killed himself this day for that, but he wouldn't go down yet. Not now.

Seth kept life pumping to his legs and clasped his hand over the three bullets in his chest as he took aim and fired at the ground.

"Nice try, kid." The Supreme slide out of the way, grazed on the arm, but otherwise perfectly fine. The gun in his hand rose up, trigger drawing back.

"No!" Kisara lunged full-bodied into his legs. Her slighter weight made him stumble twos to the side, but no more.

Seth took aim again, two bullets fired, only one penetrating the Supreme's side because of his struggle to remove the little girl around his legs. His hand came down, snagged a hearty handful of her white hair, and lifted her high, feet dangling, and hands scratching at his palm.

"Try to shoot me now!" He spat to Seth and turned his gun to Kisara's cheek. "Shoot me again! I swear I'll blow this bitch's head clean off her shoulders!" The pressure pushing into her face ate through the delicate skin, branding a red printed contrast to her snowy skin. "Come on! You had the balls to shoot me! Do it again! I fucking dare you!"

He paused, smirked evilly, and then whirled around.

"What the fuck do you amateurs take me for?" He screamed behind him at Atem and Yami who'd tried and failed to creep up from behind. The Supreme shifted and planted his foot on Yugi's head. "I'm in control, motherfuckers! Drop your guns. Hesitate a split second and I won't wait to stomp the rest of this kid's head off."

Yami's trigger finger vibrated, teeth ground together and eyes like scorching lava. He didn't immediately drop his gun, unable to tear his enraged glare from a man he vowed to kill painstakingly slow and torturously.

Atem's eyes darted from Kisara, to Yugi, the Supreme and then his crippled cousin. His usually thick lips pulled in such a tight line, the place for his mouth looked more like a knife cut across his face. How in the hell was he supposed to get everyone away? Taking a shot would possibly leave his child dead and Yugi too.

The bastard placed himself in such a way that the aftershock of being shock could make him pull the trigger or heavily press his foot deep into Yugi's throat.

"Son of a bitch," Atem heard Yami viciously curse. "How the hell do we get them back?"

"You won't," the Supreme cockily informed. "I'm beyond making deals—better yet, scratch that shit. I got a good idea." He nodded towards Yami. "You, shoot him, right between the eyes."

"Like hell," Yami growled. Lemme shoot you between the eyes!"

"Na, ah, ah." The Supreme's foot ground down warningly and tapped the gun on his victims. "Don't play. I'm not in the mood for bullshit."

Kisara clawed and screamed like a deranged animal, kicking her feet into his side. "Let me go!" She shouted. "My Daddy's gonna get you! He's gonna hurt you real bad!"

"Daddy ain't exactly in the position to be doing shit. Are you?"

Atem took a step closer, but Yami's outstretched arm halted any foolishness he had brewing in the back of his mind. All they could do was wait, think, be watchful and determine the kind of way out of this.

"Arckkk."

All eyes drew downward, but the Supreme ignorantly kept his foot pressed down.

The space around Yugi's head was gradually turning to a drying pool of burgundy against the asphalt. His eyes were open, but barely angled in a way to blink up at Atem and Yami. He slowly blinked and grinned. Yugi's head creaked to the side with the speed of a ticking clock hand and groaned under the weight pressed to his neck. He lifted his hands, hovered them quietly around the Supreme's ankle and encircled it with vise-like strength.

One sharp pull had the Supreme reeling again. Kisara landed on her hands and knees. The Supreme rolled, shouting incoherently. Atem and Yami took aim. A volley of bullets shot off, each on target, puncturing a new hole somewhere in the Supreme's body. Kisara smartly crawled as fast she could to her father's legs and glared between the gape of his knees at the body bouncing around from the barrage of gunfire.

"Get him Daddy!" She shouted over the gunfire.

Atem smirked devilishly. He planned on it. Every bullet in his guns took a hunk of meat from the Supreme's arms, legs, snatching groans and agonizing chokes from the man. He wasn't going to die though. Fuck that. Yami knew where he was firing, tracing his aim along the Supreme's frame from one end and Atem taking up the other. He wouldn't die but he sure as hell wasn't going to do much else.

Atem ended his torture when the final bullet let out.

Yami wasn't finished. He reloaded the gun and took aim, this time for the heart.

"No!" Atem laid his hand over Yami's. "Nah, not like that. We gonna do this right."

Yami shoved him away. "Fuck you, this shit's personal."

"This isn't the way I want to do this!"

"Like I give a damn about what you want." Yami glare at him. "This fool dies now!"

"Why waste the revenge here, Yami?" Atem snapped. "You saw what he did to Kisara—"

Yami's head whipped around. "Look on the ground! You see that! That's twice Yugi risked his life for your child! Do you give a damn about that now that you have your child back?"

Atem staggered and gazed on the ground, instantly meeting Yugi's dull eyes. There was life and a light. Atem frowned. Had he really been that one tracked? Hell no, he hadn't wanted Yugi to die. That'd ruin everything he was about, but. . . Kisara . . . Yugi did matter as Kisara did to him.

Kisara whimpered. "Don't fight, guys. Daddy was worried about Yugi too, Mr. Yami." She eased from around Atem's legs and went to kneel by Yugi's chest. She laid her head over his heart and smiled at the small heartbeat. "I wanna go home, please."

Seth stepped forward, holding his still bleeding chest.

Atem scrunched his nose at him, shaking his head. He tucked his gun in his waistband and went over to loop his arm around his neck. "Guess I owe you one."

Seth slumped forward, putting all of his weight on his shorter cousin. "S-send me back to Egypt. And," he hoarse around a glop of blood and spat it the still breathing Supreme. "But wait to take him out. I want a piece of 'em too." He shot a quick look at Yami.

Yami nodded.

Seth returned the gesture.

Yami bound his gun barrel in the waist of his pants as well. His priorities were to the bleeding teen on the ground. He shouldn't move him, but laying out in the heat wasn't going to be any good for him either.

Yami went over and hovered above the crumbled body, arms bent and legs curled like crooked pretzels. Tiny pants left his lips, his only means of breathing and the deep concaving of Yugi's chest relayed that even that hurt to do. He carefully tucked his arms under Yugi's knees, around his shoulders and climbed to his feet.

Yugi hacked flecks of blood on Yami's shirt. Bits of pebbles pried off where they'd been embedded in his cheeks. Yami glared at the pepper red stains on his shirt, darkened an ugly mixture from gunpowder, dirt and sweat. Yami sneered at the dull, lifeless eyes gazing through him and the unforgiving slice seeming to devour the white bandages until not a shred of the white cotton remained.

He heard a step approach, a few tiny rocks bucking the side of his shoes. Atem appeared by him, staring just as hardened and angry.

"He'll pay," Yami muttered. "I'll paint my face with his blood."

"No doubt," Atem added. He hiked Seth up on his shoulders and surveyed what was left of the quiet, uninhabited neighborhood. Their men and all scattered, running after the rest of the Brotherhood that were trying to get away. Only that Joey kid and Yusei stayed behind. "Leave his ass there. Let 'em burn in the sun a while. See how he likes that warm up before he goes to hell. Come on, baby girl."

Kisara ran up behind him, and grabbed on the end of his shirt, following closely behind as ordered. Yami brought up the rear, holding Yugi close. His heartbeat fluttered light as butterfly wings tucked under a suffocating jar. The sooner he received medical help, the likely he'd be able to save his voice.

Atem intended to survey the surrounding area and plan for a recovery mission of the fallen men and women on both the red and blue eyes, but the noisy blare of wailing sirens gave him pause. He passed Seth over to Yusei's care and straightened his back, on full alert.

"Pfft," Yami snorted lowly. "Trust the damn cops to come when the shit's all said and done." He shook his head, lifting Yugi higher on his chest.

"I know that's right. Zane probably worked it that way, hoping we'd do the job for 'em," Atem answered back. He faced Yusei. "Call Marik's dumbass and tell him to stop playing target practice. We'll fish for the rest of those fools later. We need to round up all the bodies."

Yusei, nodded, then asked, "What are we supposed to do about the rest?"

Atem waved him off. "Let Zane pick up the trash. He needs to do something to show he earned that rusty badge."

A troop of black and white Crown Vics came screeching around the corner in every direction, rotating the neighborhood's front yards in reds and blues. A silver Impala came to a halt five yards away from where Atem and Yami stood. The next car to follow was a white 2014 Lincoln; something right up Pegasus's alley.

"You take care of them," grunted Yami. "Come on, lil girl. We'll see you in a few. And hurry up." He shoved his foot under Kisara's bottom to get her walking in front of him.

"Bye Daddy!"

"Bye, baby—Yami."

Yami stopped.

Atem looked at the young teen in Yami's arms. "Don't let Yugi die on us. I need to show the kid my appreciation when he gets better."

Yami returned the wink. "No doubt. You better."

Atem watched them walk off before he gave his bored attention to the city police and Medium gang leader.

Pegasus looked worse for wear, out of his usual expensive attire. Seeing the older man in a pressed tailor shirt and black slacks, caught Atem off guard, but not as much as the warning clicks and clanks of the police men aiming their weapons at him.

"Atem Hassan." Zane appeared wearing his white and black uniform, badges and ribbons gleaming like teeth under the sun. "I'm not here to negotiate, make deals, or chit chat about whatever excuse you have for this." Zane swept his hand around the display of dead corpses and property damage littering everywhere. "Keep this simple and come quietly. You and Yami are going to be taken in for questioning."

Atem rolled his eyes. "On what grounds, Truesdale? Unless you got a warrant for my arrest—and I'm damn sure some outside sources took care of those," he cast a sharp glance at Pegasus and looked back to Zane with an arrogant smirk, "you're wasting your time. But if you wanna play the blaming game, you can start with this fool here."

The fool in question, still immobile Supreme, laying quiet on the ground.

Zane narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a request, Hassan. By the time forensics finishes investigating who's bullets went to what gun, I guarantee you and your partner there will be locked down for a good ass while. And it'd be the best kind of reward to get all of you murderers off my streets. Make it easy on yourself. I don't want to order my men to fire with young children in the vicinity, but if that's what it'll take. . ." he motioned for his men to raise their weapons.

Atem didn't flinch. In fact, he threw his head back and laughed. "I'll call that bluff." He stepped to the side and bowed. "There she is right there. Yami and Yugi too. If you got the balls to order an open fire, by all means take it." He folded his arms and waited.

Zane didn't move his arm, didn't give the signal. Atem chuckled.

"That's what I thought." He turned on his heel and began to follow behind Yami. "Feel free to give us a call if you need some extra information, but I'm gonna tell you right here, we ain't going to jail. You can kill that noise now."

"Atem." That was Pegasus. That was the person who had the authority to make Atem stop dead in his tracks and show at least a speck of respect.

The built up tension in Pegasus's shoulders unraveled like braided rope when he laid eyes on the small tumbling child and profile of one Yugi Muto, clutched tight in Yami's arms. From the looks of it, they were still alive and the battlefield, a mere street brawl, just as bloody and devastating as any other. That, he could deal with. It made dealing with Atem and Yami that much easier now as well as figuring out how to prevent this from happening again.

"Go to the station. Both you and Yami go, answer his questions. For the time being do as they say until we can get this mess cleaned up." He turned to Zane. "No more than twenty-four hours. I have my own questions and answers."

"Whatever, Max." Atem mocked a long dry sigh, and a stiff roll of his shoulders. "It's been a long ass day. Lemme have some time with my child and men, before we go running head first to the station. Shit, folks ain't got time for that—"

"You're absolutely right. None of you have time."

Atem froze. He managed a smiled tight as a stretched rubber band. "Ho, ho, ho, son of a bitch." He reached behind his back for his gun and turned. "You got some fuckin' nerve showin' up here—"

Zigfried took pleasure in the hair-raising paralysis gripping Atem midway to grabbing his weapon. He watched it all unfold, double barrel rifle held up to his eye and targets in sight. Footsteps were rushing to him, shouts of 'Zigfried, no!' 'Stand down!' 'Don't fire!' meant nothing.

He fired two solid pulls of the trigger; two exploding shots roaring as if he held a war cannon in his hand.

Atem's mouth gaped in a soundless expression of horror. He spun around the words on his lips to save his loved ones.

Bullets sped by, the warning to watch out on the edge of his lips.

Yami turned at the crackling approach. It was the first time he ever looked at Atem with true fear in his heart, ever in his eyes. His hand was tight on Kisara's, but not even his reflexes could dodge the million beaded pellets. His mouth moved for two words.

Atem didn't hear but he knew. Trepidation fled him. Strength fled him. Blood drained from his face. Time and space was slowed to a snail's crawl. Fate was such a bitch to force his eyes on the scene-unfolding, screen-by-screen.

The force of the blow propelled Yami off his feet before he could fully turn around, barely missing the bullet's destructive purpose. Blood, ribbons of thick redness burst from his side, glops from his mouth, splattering on the cooked asphalt. His body took the full blunt of the shot, seeming to prove that it wasn't capable of anything but. He dropped Yugi, remained standing. A stone statue determined to stand strong against the dynamite.

But Yami was no statue. He was a man, made of flesh and bones. Atem's eyes squinted to thin slithers.

. . . The final drawn scream turned Atem's blood cold. The bullets rammed like a wrecking ball through Kisara's back and out the front. The loud snap, crackle of fragile bones destroyed, unless the gates of dormant blood echoed in his ears. Her tiny body, so small, frail, no match for a pistol that strong, felt the penetrating sting, the scorch of gunfire searing her flesh apart.

Atem screamed, but hadn't caught up in the frozen time. She fell hard, crumbled on the ground like a puppet cut from its strings.

His feet were moving, but still frozen, it seemed so was so far away. The faster he ran, the farther she stretched from his grasp.

More gunfire blared in the back of his mind. His eyes never left where Yami tried to keep from collapsing on the ground. His feet couldn't manage, so slippery from his own blood, the mighty would eventually fall and bounce and stay, like a deflated ball.

Time caught up to Atem. His feet were barely inches from their bodies, all three. Yami struggled to keep breathing, Yugi remained silent, the only sign of life being the overwhelming flow of tears running silently over his nose and then. . . Kisara . . . hadn't moved once. Their blood collected at his feet, three trails.

His scream finally caught him to him. It was unrealizable, like the sound of a wounded creature, a broken heart, a weak victim. He saw shadows, felt the tears streaking his face.

Numbness took over his body.

Then there was red. Only the blinding shade of red.