Joey stood up at the sound of the shout. In a desperate attempt to protect his younger sister from anything that could harm her, he pushed her back toward the far wall.
"Serenity, stay in here," Joey commanded. He gave her a quick squeeze before handing her his cell phone. "If I'm not back up here in ten minutes, call 9-1-1 and then call Yugi. Do not come out of this room until I call you." Not waiting for an answer, Joey pulled the door closed behind him before heading downstairs. As he nearly reached the first floor what he saw made his blood run cold. The room was destroyed. The couch and chair were tipped over backwards; glass was strewn about the room. Lying in the middle of the floor was his mother. Without thinking, Joey ran over to her side, and placed her his head on her chest. There was a heartbeat, but it was faint. There were marks on her neck as if someone had used their hands to try to strangle her. His mom's dress was torn, and covered in blood. He was too busy trying to wake his mother up that he did not notice two other figures in the room.
Out from one corner, his dad stepped forward, and pointed a gun at him. Joey thought it looked like some sort of revolver, but he didn't want to find out. "Dad, why are you doing this?" Joey asked, looking at his dad with fire burning deep in his eyes.
"Because," his father began, keeping the gun aimed at the boy's chest. "It's your fault your mother left. Yours and that stupid slut you call a sister. When I'm done with you, I'm going after her next. Don't worry; I'll kill her, as soon as I'm done using her. However, I'm sorry to say, I have to get rid of you first."
Joey's father pointed the gun, and slowly squeezed the trigger, just a finger dressed in white shoved Joey out of the way. The bullets hit the figures body with full force, tearing through flesh and muscle, as the person let out a scream, before crumpling on the floor.
"Serenity," Joey whispered as tears filled his eyes. He looked up at his father through his tears then back at his sister, who had taken the bullet that was meant for him. It should have been him lying on the floor in a puddle of blood.
Just then, the door burst open, and three figures were standing in the doorway. Tristan stepped forward, a gun of his own trained on the gunman. Beside him was Atem and Yugi, the two standing side by side. Muttering to himself, his father turned and pulled the trigger once as the gun fired into Joey's lower chest cavity. Joey doubled up in pain before clutching his hands to his chest and collapsing on the floor next to his younger sister. Tristan raised his hand as if to shoot, when Atem held up his hand.
"It's time that we play a little game, where losing carries dire consequences," Atem said, drawing on the power of the Millennium Puzzle to call forth the shadow game. For a short while, the shadows surrounded the house, but only Atem and Joey's father could see what was happening.
"What is this," he yelled, pointing his gun at Atem.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you. The shadows despise cheaters." As soon as the words were out of Atem's mouth, Joey's father fired. He looked around in shock. The boy should have been lying on the ground with a bullet in between his eyes, but instead he was nowhere in sight. All around him, he heard a dark laugh.
"I told you not to do that, but you wouldn't listen," he said as the shadows closed in tighter around him. To the rest of the house, the shadows disappeared, showing only Atem and a screaming man. Joey's father rocked backward and forward, letting out whimpers, shouts and screams. Then look on his face was pure terror.
Ignoring the man, Atem turned to Tristan and Yugi. "One of you go call an ambulance. I need the other to help me try and stop some of the bleeding. Tristan ran off for the phone, while Yugi searched around and managed to find some bandages, and towels. When he returned to the room, Atem had his shirt off and tore into strips of cloth. He was pulling Joey's shirt over his head, when he noticed Yugi.
"Bandage him the best you can. I'm going to check on Serenity. Their mom should be ok, she's not as injured as these two are." While he was speaking, he carefully pulled her shirt away from her small frame. He wished he could give her more privacy, but this was the best he could do in such an urgent situation. Of two bullets, one had went into her upper left side, while the other hit a few inches above her stomach. Quickly he began to wrap the makeshift bandages around her small frame. He finished just as the ambulance arrived. Tristan rode with the ambulance, while Yugi and Atem rode behind on Tristan's motorcycle. It wasn't Yugi's best idea to let Atem drive, but they got to the hospital at the same time as the ambulance after running only four red lights, three stop signs, and nearly hitting seven pedestrians. They followed the paramedics into the hospital and sat in the waiting room of the hospital. After what felt like forever, a doctor came out to talk to them.
"You might want to go in and see them. Neither of the two kids has woken up yet, but their mother is ok. The other two are in critical condition." With these words, he led the trio into the hospital room the two siblings shared. Tristan looked at them for a second them walked out to call the others. Yugi knew the real reason was because he didn't want to have to see either of the two in such a condition. It was no secret that Tristan had a crush on Serenity, and he and Joey had been friends long before they had meet Yugi, so he couldn't blame them.
Yugi wanted to cry himself. He hated to see his friends in this condition. No one deserved to suffer like this. He leaned against the wall, turning his face away from Atem as he tried to blink back tears. Atem walked over and put his arm around the smaller boy's shoulder. Yugi turned to bury his face in Atem's shirt. The boy's arms wrapped around him, and Yugi allowed the tears to fall.
"Atem, wh-what if th-they die?" Yugi sobbed. Atem sighed and pulled away. He put his finger under Yugi's chin, forcing him to look at him.
"Yugi, you have to believe that they are going to be ok. You just have to," he told him. Atem turned to face the two on the bed. Atem had heard a lot more than he let on in the Shadow Realm. The shadows had informed him that the abuse Joey had suffered was much more than physical. His father had often used him for his own sexual pleasure more times than could be counted. Atem wondered how the boy could stay strong during all of this, and still manage to keep a smile around his friends. It had to be impossible to deal with something like that.
Meanwhile Joey and Serenity were both fighting against death. Joey's injuries were much worse than that of Serenity, but both appeared to have fallen into some sort of comma. Only time would tell if they would be able to survive this awful experience.
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