He stood alone on the platform, the center of Ra's wrath. Everyone else
could only look on in horror as the gigantic dragon reared its head, fire
starting to form at its ugly snout. He couldn't move, not only was he
awestruck at the impressive sight, but also shackles bound to his legs
tightly clamped around his legs, digging into the skin and drawing blood to
prevent him from going any further. Ra's controller, another one of those
creepy Ancient Egypt guys, but ten, no, a hundred times creepier then
Marik, laughed with perverse pleasure as Ra reared up his head and charged
the blast.
"Forget him!" Yugi, under control of the pharaoh spirit, shouted out to Ra's controller. "I'm the one you want!"
"But I'm having far too much fun!" The man shouted before letting out on of those laugh's that got the skin crawling. I wanted to call out, rescue him, or say something, but I was quaking with fear at the sight of Ra, I wouldn't have been able to move if someone robbed me right then and there.
Ra's controller pointed, a long narrow finger stretched out and pointed towards Joey, the man on the platform. Obeying its master, Ra breathed out the charged up breath at him. Joey had shut his eyes and apparently prepared himself for the onslaught, but he was exposed up there, nothing to hide behind, nothing to block the hit, and the fire washed all over him. The light was intense, I couldn't see, but I didn't need my eyes to know the effect. Joey had not started screaming until a few seconds after the fire wave hit, but that noise, piercing through the very icy bit of my soul, was something I would hear for all time. It was a loud, piercing scream, one that I thought Joey, with all his light-heartedness and humor, could never produce. It sounded terrible; like it was not just normal pain he was experiencing.
"Joey!" I finally shouted, scrambling up to try and reach him. I reached my hand into the fire and tried to grab him, but once I stuck my hand in, I retracted it on a reflex. Looking at my hand, I noticed that although there were no visible scars or marks, it still hurt like a bitch, worse then any physical pain I had ever felt. When the fire finally subsided, and I was able to get sight of Joey, my knees quaked, and my heart faltered. Just like my hand, there didn't appear to be any marks on him, but he still looked like shit. The shackles around his legs had been released, and he stood there, breathing heavily, for a few seconds. Then he fell face-first into the ground. I ignored all rational thought; Ra still towered over us both, and ran over to him.
"What do you hope to do?" Ra's controller asked me. I shot the bastard The Bird without looking at him. Joey was not conscious, and he looked extremely fatigued, so I grabbed his limp body and carried it away. He was heavy, but that was the least of my worries as I looked at the concerned group of people that was Yugi and his friends.
"Take care of that asshole." I told Yugi before walking off, Joey's fragile body still clutched in my arms.
There weren't any medical staff nearby, but I knew a thing or two about saving someone's life. At first I wasn't sure where to start because I didn't know exactly what needed to be treated. I cut open Joey's shirt with a pair of scissors and attached defribulator pads to his chest. The machine analyzed that his heart was still pumping constantly. The boy, I guess it's a little unfair to say boy because he was 17 now, was also breathing, rather steadily, so I didn't need to assist in that way. So I sat there, and I waited. While he was asleep, he was sweating; his forehead and chest had sweat condensing quickly. I toweled it off, trying to make him comfortable. Although Tristan and Serenity came in once to check on him, I assured them that I was in control, Mai Valentine is a competent woman who can do anything, I said, even though I knew that sentence was a lie. I'm sure they did too, but Serenity said that she would take over when I got tired, and then she and Tristan went to cheer on the pharaoh.
"Send that fucker's ass back to Oblivion or wherever the hell else things go." I ordered Yugi mentally. I turned my gaze back to Joey, and found myself staring a little. He had been working out, and it showed, his muscles rising and falling as he breathed. Were situations not so desperate, I would be tempted to do...other things, but now I had to make sure he recovered.
I left briefly to get some water, and as soon as I came back, Joey's eyes opened. A little, very little. I could see tears in his eyes, so he probably would not have been able to tell who I was.
"Looks like you got yourself hurt pretty bad, Joseph." I said, immediately bringing up my carefree, tough attitude that I normally held whenever the boy was conscious.
"Mai." He said weakly. I felt my heart melting, and couldn't keep up my strong façade.
"You worried me, you know. It sounded like you were in a lot of pain."
"I am, but...I'm glad, that it was...me and not...you." He said. I wasn't going to tell him about my hand, which still ached like a mother. He was bad enough already, why tell him things he didn't want to hear. I handed him the water, and guided it to his lips. He drank slowly.
"Mai." He said. "I don't...I don't want you...to see me like this." He said.
"You see me weak, I can see you in pain." I said simply. It was true, he'd seen me falter, and he'd seen me in pain. Even after Battle City, he had come to my rescue when I found myself on the side of a sick, twisted duelist who strapped my lower body in a metal case that got hotter and hotter as I lost Life Points. I had been unable to move on, the pain in my legs blinding and searing, disrupting all of my thoughts, until he snapped me out of it.
"You...aren't weak." He said, in ragged breaths. It no longer sounded like it hurt him to talk, but he always sounded out of breath. "You...never were. You find ways...to always win." It was true, even after losses in Battle City; I had come back and won time after time. But they didn't satisfy me, in fact, I was only really satisfied when I won or lost for a good reason.
"You've taught me something, and you've said this expressly." I told him, my eyes tearing up now. I leaned up close and whispered into his ear.
"Strength...does not always mean victory." I said. He smiled, and then lay back down to rest.
Joey's mother came in soon after. I had told her that he was asleep, but he wasn't in any critical conditions.
"You are...Mai. I've heard a lot about you from Joey and Serenity." She said. She'd never met me, but she didn't need to. I watched her son, and stopped him from making stupid mistakes. I saved her daughter's eyes, or rather; I helped Joey do so by giving up my own chances to take the money.
"You're an amazing woman." Ms. Wheeler said to me. "Serenity told me about how you were the first to save him despite the danger that was still present." I doubt she knew anything about Ra, but Serenity was good at telling stories, she probably told something really convincing.
"You're beautiful and strong. It's easy to see why my son enjoys being around you." This statement shook me up, shook me up more then I would have ever admitted.
"Well, yeah." I said, trying not to blush at the praise I was not used to receiving. She then left to probably talk to Serenity; I went back to watching Joey. He was still asleep, but he was no longer sweating, so that was probably something of an accomplishment.
Serenity then took over, because she said I looked exhausted. Looking at my watch, I noticed I had been watching Joey for a couple of hours. Ms. Wheeler came up and spoke to me before I went to sleep.
"Joey woke up a little when I went to see him. The first thing he did was ask about you. You are well?"
"Just tired." I responded. "It's exhausting watching him, even when he's asleep."
"No argument there. Mai, let us be honest women." Ms. Wheeler said. I stared at her, bewildered for a minute.
"You're feelings are evident enough to me, so I want to give you some advice. It's not easy to be liked if you're a strong woman. If you ever want to have children, there are times when you must be weak as well as times to be strong." When she said this, I turned redder then Ra's fire. That sentence stayed with me, even after Ms. Wheeler left, and I drifted to sleep.
Yugi had defeated the sick bastard, and I was happy, real happy. I went to check on Joey to find Tristan and Serenity were both watching him, yet both of them had fallen asleep in chairs. I woke the two lovebirds up, and they left to go get something to drink. I looked back at Joey, and as if sensing I was there, he woke up. He looked a lot better, and he sat up, and with assistance, eventually stood up. He looked like a dork, wearing just a pair of jeans and socks.
"You..." I started, and for the first time in my life I was unsure about what to say. "You looked better. Yesterday, you looked like shit." I was trying to be flat, so Joey wouldn't see in my violet eyes and know that I was so worried about him.
"I said before." He was able to talk without sounding ragged. "You're not supposed to see that side of me." He moved forward, and like a class A klutz, he tripped, and fell into my arms. I stumbled a little as his weight, and then hugged him.
"It must have...been hard on you. Watching me like that." He said.
"Yeah, but I felt weak." I admitted softly. "I couldn't do anything because I was so afraid. I really did want to show you that I would have dove headfirst into that fire and pull you out with my teeth if I had to." I was trying to return to my take-everything-with-a-grain-of-salt attitude. He broke the hug, and looked at me with a look that was mellow even the hardest of hearts. He then whispered to me. I knew what he was going to say, but it still surprised me when he said it.
"Strength...does not always mean victory."
"Forget him!" Yugi, under control of the pharaoh spirit, shouted out to Ra's controller. "I'm the one you want!"
"But I'm having far too much fun!" The man shouted before letting out on of those laugh's that got the skin crawling. I wanted to call out, rescue him, or say something, but I was quaking with fear at the sight of Ra, I wouldn't have been able to move if someone robbed me right then and there.
Ra's controller pointed, a long narrow finger stretched out and pointed towards Joey, the man on the platform. Obeying its master, Ra breathed out the charged up breath at him. Joey had shut his eyes and apparently prepared himself for the onslaught, but he was exposed up there, nothing to hide behind, nothing to block the hit, and the fire washed all over him. The light was intense, I couldn't see, but I didn't need my eyes to know the effect. Joey had not started screaming until a few seconds after the fire wave hit, but that noise, piercing through the very icy bit of my soul, was something I would hear for all time. It was a loud, piercing scream, one that I thought Joey, with all his light-heartedness and humor, could never produce. It sounded terrible; like it was not just normal pain he was experiencing.
"Joey!" I finally shouted, scrambling up to try and reach him. I reached my hand into the fire and tried to grab him, but once I stuck my hand in, I retracted it on a reflex. Looking at my hand, I noticed that although there were no visible scars or marks, it still hurt like a bitch, worse then any physical pain I had ever felt. When the fire finally subsided, and I was able to get sight of Joey, my knees quaked, and my heart faltered. Just like my hand, there didn't appear to be any marks on him, but he still looked like shit. The shackles around his legs had been released, and he stood there, breathing heavily, for a few seconds. Then he fell face-first into the ground. I ignored all rational thought; Ra still towered over us both, and ran over to him.
"What do you hope to do?" Ra's controller asked me. I shot the bastard The Bird without looking at him. Joey was not conscious, and he looked extremely fatigued, so I grabbed his limp body and carried it away. He was heavy, but that was the least of my worries as I looked at the concerned group of people that was Yugi and his friends.
"Take care of that asshole." I told Yugi before walking off, Joey's fragile body still clutched in my arms.
There weren't any medical staff nearby, but I knew a thing or two about saving someone's life. At first I wasn't sure where to start because I didn't know exactly what needed to be treated. I cut open Joey's shirt with a pair of scissors and attached defribulator pads to his chest. The machine analyzed that his heart was still pumping constantly. The boy, I guess it's a little unfair to say boy because he was 17 now, was also breathing, rather steadily, so I didn't need to assist in that way. So I sat there, and I waited. While he was asleep, he was sweating; his forehead and chest had sweat condensing quickly. I toweled it off, trying to make him comfortable. Although Tristan and Serenity came in once to check on him, I assured them that I was in control, Mai Valentine is a competent woman who can do anything, I said, even though I knew that sentence was a lie. I'm sure they did too, but Serenity said that she would take over when I got tired, and then she and Tristan went to cheer on the pharaoh.
"Send that fucker's ass back to Oblivion or wherever the hell else things go." I ordered Yugi mentally. I turned my gaze back to Joey, and found myself staring a little. He had been working out, and it showed, his muscles rising and falling as he breathed. Were situations not so desperate, I would be tempted to do...other things, but now I had to make sure he recovered.
I left briefly to get some water, and as soon as I came back, Joey's eyes opened. A little, very little. I could see tears in his eyes, so he probably would not have been able to tell who I was.
"Looks like you got yourself hurt pretty bad, Joseph." I said, immediately bringing up my carefree, tough attitude that I normally held whenever the boy was conscious.
"Mai." He said weakly. I felt my heart melting, and couldn't keep up my strong façade.
"You worried me, you know. It sounded like you were in a lot of pain."
"I am, but...I'm glad, that it was...me and not...you." He said. I wasn't going to tell him about my hand, which still ached like a mother. He was bad enough already, why tell him things he didn't want to hear. I handed him the water, and guided it to his lips. He drank slowly.
"Mai." He said. "I don't...I don't want you...to see me like this." He said.
"You see me weak, I can see you in pain." I said simply. It was true, he'd seen me falter, and he'd seen me in pain. Even after Battle City, he had come to my rescue when I found myself on the side of a sick, twisted duelist who strapped my lower body in a metal case that got hotter and hotter as I lost Life Points. I had been unable to move on, the pain in my legs blinding and searing, disrupting all of my thoughts, until he snapped me out of it.
"You...aren't weak." He said, in ragged breaths. It no longer sounded like it hurt him to talk, but he always sounded out of breath. "You...never were. You find ways...to always win." It was true, even after losses in Battle City; I had come back and won time after time. But they didn't satisfy me, in fact, I was only really satisfied when I won or lost for a good reason.
"You've taught me something, and you've said this expressly." I told him, my eyes tearing up now. I leaned up close and whispered into his ear.
"Strength...does not always mean victory." I said. He smiled, and then lay back down to rest.
Joey's mother came in soon after. I had told her that he was asleep, but he wasn't in any critical conditions.
"You are...Mai. I've heard a lot about you from Joey and Serenity." She said. She'd never met me, but she didn't need to. I watched her son, and stopped him from making stupid mistakes. I saved her daughter's eyes, or rather; I helped Joey do so by giving up my own chances to take the money.
"You're an amazing woman." Ms. Wheeler said to me. "Serenity told me about how you were the first to save him despite the danger that was still present." I doubt she knew anything about Ra, but Serenity was good at telling stories, she probably told something really convincing.
"You're beautiful and strong. It's easy to see why my son enjoys being around you." This statement shook me up, shook me up more then I would have ever admitted.
"Well, yeah." I said, trying not to blush at the praise I was not used to receiving. She then left to probably talk to Serenity; I went back to watching Joey. He was still asleep, but he was no longer sweating, so that was probably something of an accomplishment.
Serenity then took over, because she said I looked exhausted. Looking at my watch, I noticed I had been watching Joey for a couple of hours. Ms. Wheeler came up and spoke to me before I went to sleep.
"Joey woke up a little when I went to see him. The first thing he did was ask about you. You are well?"
"Just tired." I responded. "It's exhausting watching him, even when he's asleep."
"No argument there. Mai, let us be honest women." Ms. Wheeler said. I stared at her, bewildered for a minute.
"You're feelings are evident enough to me, so I want to give you some advice. It's not easy to be liked if you're a strong woman. If you ever want to have children, there are times when you must be weak as well as times to be strong." When she said this, I turned redder then Ra's fire. That sentence stayed with me, even after Ms. Wheeler left, and I drifted to sleep.
Yugi had defeated the sick bastard, and I was happy, real happy. I went to check on Joey to find Tristan and Serenity were both watching him, yet both of them had fallen asleep in chairs. I woke the two lovebirds up, and they left to go get something to drink. I looked back at Joey, and as if sensing I was there, he woke up. He looked a lot better, and he sat up, and with assistance, eventually stood up. He looked like a dork, wearing just a pair of jeans and socks.
"You..." I started, and for the first time in my life I was unsure about what to say. "You looked better. Yesterday, you looked like shit." I was trying to be flat, so Joey wouldn't see in my violet eyes and know that I was so worried about him.
"I said before." He was able to talk without sounding ragged. "You're not supposed to see that side of me." He moved forward, and like a class A klutz, he tripped, and fell into my arms. I stumbled a little as his weight, and then hugged him.
"It must have...been hard on you. Watching me like that." He said.
"Yeah, but I felt weak." I admitted softly. "I couldn't do anything because I was so afraid. I really did want to show you that I would have dove headfirst into that fire and pull you out with my teeth if I had to." I was trying to return to my take-everything-with-a-grain-of-salt attitude. He broke the hug, and looked at me with a look that was mellow even the hardest of hearts. He then whispered to me. I knew what he was going to say, but it still surprised me when he said it.
"Strength...does not always mean victory."