It's the day of New Years Eve and I said that I would have this out by then, but I ended up getting super sick last Monday and have been recovering. Thankfully I'm mostly better and just have a few body aches and a cough left. To .585 I want to thank you for your review. It's been a real struggle and knowing I have people like you out there cheering me on makes me want to cry in happiness and keep going.

I'm ready to give you guys the next chapter and hopefully you enjoy it everyone!

I do not own YuGiOh or any of its characters. If I did, I would be telling Pegasus exactly what I thought of him when he stole Mokuba and Seto's souls!

(warnings: mild language (most likely Bakura and Marik because we all know those two), violence, possible lemon and more)

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Flashbacks/ Singing

"Joey come on! Hurry up already!"

The blond shook his head in amusement as he watched the bouncing kid up ahead. Mokuba was the most energetic child he'd ever met and right now he was currently hopped up on sugar from the ice cream cones that they just bought.

"Will ya slow down? It ain't goin' nowhere!" Joey teased playfully.

"But Joey, if we don't get there soon then they won't have any good seats left!"

He rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be tugged along. It was Friday and after getting amazing results back on his homework he decided to celebrate by taking Mokuba out for ice cream and a movie.

Seeing the 78 on the math assignment had been one thing, but the little written 'Good job' that was next to it?! From the evil witch Mershman?! Joey had nearly jumped up in class and cheered his victory! Luckily before he could explode, Tristan and Yugi had seen what happened and held him down before he could get in trouble.

The blond had to wait but it was worth it. As soon as he was out of the class he had raced up and down the hallway much to the amusement of his friends and odd stares of the other students. Seto had even heard the commotion from a few classrooms away and had come to investigate- only to be pounced on by an overjoyed puppy who informed him of his triumph. It earned him a proud smile from the brunet and a kiss on the forehead.

THAT had earned the poor blond maaaany angry looks from the crazy Kaiba fanclub and squeals from the fangirls that were in support of him and Seto. Which had confused the heck out of Joey when he'd heard of them. 'What da hell is up wit girls?!'

"Joey!"

He rolled his eyes and grinned at the impatient huffy look he was getting. The kid was looking more and more like his big brother every day. The day that he first saw Mokuba give someone the death glare he'd burst into full blown laughter. "I'm comin' ya Imp."

Together the two of them finally made it to the theater where they paid for their tickets and proceeded to enjoy the latest Disney remake, The Lion King. He'd heard that it wasn't as good as the original, but Joey honestly enjoyed it. Sure, it wasn't the same as the cartoon, but it had it's good points and he thought the kid version of Simba was fricken cute! He also enjoyed seeing how excited Mokuba was too. Both of them sang along to the songs that they knew by heart like the little kids they both were.

As the credits rolled, the two made their way out of the building singing "I just can't wait to be king" together.

"I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemy's beware!"

Joey tossed his nose in the air and sang in a snooty voice. "Well I neva seen a king or beast, wit quite so lil hair~"

Mokuba grinned up at his friend and leaped in front of him, proclaiming proudly. "I'm gonna be the main event! Like no king was before~ I'm brushing up on looking down, I'm working on my ROAR!" He sang with all his might, causing Joey to pretend to fall back at the force of it.

Scoffing at the shorty, he gave him an unimpressed expression. "Thus far, a ratha uninspirin' thing…"

The young Kaiba struck a smug pose, one that would make his older brother proud. "Oh, I just can't wait! To be kiiiing~!"

Joey burst out snickering at the mental image of Seto standing off to the side, grinning at his brother and offering him praise for the cocky attitude. He ruffled Mokuba's wild hair- which was indeed a lion mane- and lead him back towards home. "Come on ya lil dork. We gotta get back home fo' dinnah!"

Instantly big chibi eyes sparkled with excitement. "Woo! I want spaghetti and meatballs!"

Joey grinned back at him. "Don't forget 'bout da garlic bread!"

The two began their journey back to the Kaiba mansion, opting to walk instead of calling for the limo. It was a nice day and they both could use some fresh air after a week of being stuck inside of a stuffy school building. He listened as Mokuba complained about his teachers and how they all patronized him due to not believing that he was doing his homework on his own.

"They all think big brother is doing my work for me… no one believes that I'm as smart as I seem," Mokuba sulked, shuffling beside the older blond. "And sometimes he does help me but Seto never does it for me. He says that he wants me to learn it right but earn it myself."

Joey nodded in understanding. "He's a smart bro. Ya neva wanna cheat an' have others do it for ya. Cuz then if ya eva have to do it ya self, ya won't know what ta do." The blond had gotten answers for homework problems from his friends at times, but it had always been during emergencies when he couldn't finish due to his old man. It had left a bad feeling in his stomach to beg for the answers but honestly at the time, it was the only thing keeping him from failing completely in school.

"I just hate being accused of it! I try to tell them that I'm not getting the answers from him, but they just act all disappointed."

He opened his mouth to help cheer his little friend up but paused when he felt as though someone was watching them. At the same time, he heard walking behind them. Glancing back discreetly over his shoulder, he noticed a man in a dark jacket, hat and sunglasses about twenty to thirty feet behind the two of them. There was no one else around except the three of them…

Narrowing his eyes, he rested a hand on Mokuba's shoulder and began to walk just a bit faster. The boy paused in his story when he sensed the change of mood in his friend. "Joey…?"

"Just keep walkin', ok?" Joey whispered to him softly under his breath. "Listen to everythin' ah tell ya."

Mokuba's face shone with nervousness but he nodded in understanding. Sadly, he knew that this wasn't the first time that Mokuba had to deal with this sort of thing, but he was going to make sure that nothing happened. Maybe he was just panicking over nothing?

As their pace increased, the sound of the person behind them gradually sped up. It confirmed what Joey had suspected- someone was following them. With another quick glance over his shoulder he saw the man still on their tail.

His fight or flight instincts were screaming at him, but he knew that in this situation the best thing to do was get Mokuba out of there. His heart was beating fast in his chest and ringing in his ears.

"When ah tell ya to run, ya run an' don' look back..."

The raven gave a tiny nod and braced himself.

He shifted just a little bit so that he was more behind Mokuba and snuck another look behind them.

The stranger tensed at the third glance shot his way and made his move.

"RUN!"

Joey gave Mokuba a shove forward and together the two of them took off down the sidewalk and across the street. The sound of shouting came from behind them and soon their stalker was running as well. As they made their escape, he made sure to keep Mokuba in his vision at all times while yelling out directions for him to go in. As they rounded a corner to head down a different street, he reached into his phone and hit the first contact that he found.

Riiiing… Riiiiiing….

"Yeah what the hell do you want, Blondie?"

Ah hell, why did he have that number in his phone?!

"Bakura! We need a hand he'e! Mokie an' I ah bein' followed!"

"WHAT?!" came the shouted response. "What the fuck do you mean you're being followed?!"

"SOMEONE IS TRYIN' TO GET US, DUMBASS!"

"Where are you?! I'm on my way with the Tomb Keeper!"

Joey rattled off the location of what general area they were in. It was kind of stupid to tell them where they were when they were currently running for their lives. Instead he turned his phone's location on and told him how to track it.

"Get here fast!" Joey panted into the phone. As he spoke, he spotted a gumball machine outside of a candy store and an idea formed in his head from watching all sorts of cartoons as a kid. He took a second to grab hold of it and tip it over, causing hundreds of gumballs to go rolling across the sidewalk, before taking off again. In the background he heard a startled shout and thud followed by a lot of cursing. That bought them some time and a head start. "Call Seto too an' hurry!"

As they rounded another corner, Joey noticed Mokuba was starting to lag. The kid wasn't used to running so far and obvious had no stamina. Bending down he scooped up the startled raven-haired boy like a child and hurried down an alley. Once there he glanced around for a place to hide. He spotted a few doors, several dumpsters and a fire escape. The blond quickly tried a few handles but wasn't surprised to find them locked. It was the city- of course no one kept their backdoors unlocked.

Joey groaned internally before running towards the back of the alley where the dumpsters were. It was a tight squeeze, but he managed to slip in between two of them and hid Mokuba behind one of them in the space between the dumpster and the wall. He also grabbed a few of the bags and arranged them so he was hidden from sight. If they were lucky and kept quiet, maybe they could make it out of this without being caught…

The next several minutes were agony. All they could do was wait… and wait… Mokuba looked absolutely terrified all huddled into the horrible corner and Joey couldn't even offer him words of comfort. All he could do was squeeze his hand and give him reassuring looks when he wasn't keeping an eye out for their stalker. It was so quiet with the only sounds heard were distant cars and the occasional scurrying rat or alley cat. No footsteps. No voices. His blood raced in his ears and he prayed that one of their friends would find them.

Silence…

Seconds passed…

Minutes passed…

Were they safe?

Was he still out there?

Had he left?

Was he waiting for them to make a move?

Did he dare risk revealing their location to check?

What if he had backup?

Who was it?

Was the guy after Mokuba?

Were they looking for a ransom from Seto?

Was he after him?

Was he with his dad?

Joey froze as he heard a sound.

Were those footsteps?

It was getting closer….

He made sure that Mokuba was well hidden and braced himself for what was to come. His heart pounded rapidly in his chest and he could feel his lungs screaming for air that he refused to release. Every tiny noise felt like it was a million times louder. As though it was yelling their location to the world.

The footsteps were getting closer now. It was heading right for their spot. He prepared himself to attack first and ask questions later. He was NOT going to let them get a hold of Mokuba!

The footsteps stopped directly in front of him…

AND YES I'M LEAVING IT AS A CLIFFHANGER BECAUSE I'M EVIL. I promise that I'll make the next chapters longer but I'm glad that I finished this. Also I edited the last chapter so if you didn't get a chance to see it, please go back and check it out cause it looks so much better. Thank you so much and please review. HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!