Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Welcome Raine ❯ Serenity Phones Home ( Chapter 1 )

Welcomed Raine

By Dark_Wolf

Disclaimer: All Yu-Gi-Oh characters and anything related with the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game are the property of their respective owners. I own nothing, I am a simple college student with no money and a heck of a lot of time. Please don't sue!

Sumary: When Joey Wheeler's father goes to far, it forces Joey to do something drastic. With one phone call, the lives of the YGO gang will change.

Pairings: Y/YY, J/TT, TG/MV, R/B, M/YM, S/MK, SK/OC, II/R, OC/OC, other pairings to be revealed as I use them.

Author's Notes: The characters may be a bit OOC, and I've taken liberty with their ages, Seto, Tristan, Yami, Merrick, Mai, and Bakura are all 23, Joey, Malick, Yugi, Tea, and Ryou are all 20, and Serenity and Mokuba are both 17. Thanks and review!

Chapter one: Serenity Phones Home

Pain screamed through his body. Joey Wheeler realized that if he did not do something, and soon, he would be dead. He had come home from the Turtle Game Shop later than usual, having been studying with Yugi, Tea, Malick, and Ryou for an upcoming Sociology test at the Domino City Junior College. He should have never gone home, he realized that now. His father, Marus Wheeler had been drinking again.

Marus's booted foot rammed into Joey's already abused ribs causing the boy to cough up blood. The broken rib had punctured a lung. "You damn ingrate! How dare you walk in here like you own the place! I am your father, you have to respect me you whore!" Fists rained down on Joey's abused body, he was too tired to fight back. He knew he would die tonight, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that fact. Lord, please hear me. Help me, please. I don't want to die, there's so much to live for. Please, grant me a miracle, please let me live. I'll do anything! I'll call her....I promise I'll call her, just let me survive. Please let me live.

As if in answer to his prayer Marus stumbled back and fell over the couch, he had finally passed out, giving his son the time needed to escape. Joey crawled over to the wall, his body protesting greatly, but he couldn't stay there, he had to get away, get someplace safe so that Marus could never hurt him again. He pushed himself to his feet and using the wall as a support, walked/limped into his room. He pulled out a duffle bag and packed his dueling deck, some clothes, and his school books, then he searched through his desk until he found his wallet and a letter. After pocketing both items the boy turned around and slowly made his way to the door. When he passed his father's unconscious form, he had to restrain himself from kicking him, he knew that if he had, Marus would wake up and the abuse would start all over again.

Ten minutes later Joey was finally out of his apartment and had painfully made his way over to the park that separated the neighborhoods that his friends lived in from his. He made his way over to a pay phone and dialed a number. Please be there. Please oh please be there Tristan. Man, I need you to pick up the phone.

There was a click and a weary voice sounded over the line, "Hello? Who is this? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Tristan, it's Joey. I'm at the park, can you come and get me?" Joey's voice was raspy with relief and pain, Tristan could hear it through the phone, without a second thought, Tristan sprang up from the bed and started to pull on a pair of jeans, he grabbed his jacket and put his boots on.

"Yea, I'll be right there. You're at the phone booth in the middle of the park next to the fountain, right?"

"Yea. Please hurry. I'm hurt bad, I think the bakayaro broke a rib." Joey coughed again.

"Just stay there, I'll be there in less than five minutes. Okay, Joey, just hold on." Tristan slammed down the phone and raced out of his apartment. He jumped on his dirt bike and revved the engine. He took off like the fires of Hell were after him and made record time to the park. Instead of leavin his bike in the bike parking lot, he rode it directly to the phone booth only to find Joey sitting on the bench hunched over and shaking.

Tristan stopped the bike and was at his best friend's side in moments. When he saw the damage done to Joey he gasped, "Joey. Oh my God! What did that sick fuck do to you?"

"He cornered me when I got home. I don't really know what set him off this time. Tristan, I gotta get away from him, I can't stay there anymore, one more beating like this and I'm dead."

Tristan helped Joey up and wrapped an arm around the younger man's waist, being careful of his ribs to support him as they walked over to the bike, "I'm taking you to the hospital."

"No. No hospital. Tris, he'll find me, I can't go there, and I can't go to your apartment or to anyone else, he'll find me and then it would put everyone in danger. Call Kaiba, ask if he could possibly help. There is no one else."

Tristan didn't argue, he pulled his cell-phone out of his jacket pocket and dialed Seto's number. The line was finally picked up after four rings.

"Who the Hell is this! It's four in the fucking morning!" Seto's sleep roughend voice barked through the speaker.

"Kaiba, I'm sorry to wake you, but I'm outta options here. It's Tristan."

"What do you want Taylor?"

"Help. Joey's been beaten to within an inch of his life, and he can't go to a hospital. You're our last hope, Kaiba. Can you do anything?"

Seto woke up fully and swore, "Kuso! Was it Marus? Never mind, yea, I'll call my personal doctor, just get him to the Mansion as soon as you can. We'll be waiting."

Tristan sighed with relief, "Thanks, man. We appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it, as much as it pains me to do so, you and the Mutt are my friends. And as Yugi always says, friends help friends. I'll see you in a few minutes." With that Seto hung up the phone and dialed his doctor, when that was finished he headed to his brother's room. "Mokuba, wake up."

"What's wrong, big brother? It's four in the morning." Mokuba's sleepy voice rang out from the mound of blankets and pillows on the bed.

"Joey's been hurt, he and Tristan are on their way over. Dr. Blaine is on his way. I thought you'd want to be awake to hear what's going on."

Mokuba was up in a flash and the two proceeded to go downstairs to wait for the three to arrive.

Dr. Blaine arrived first along with his emergency staff and tools, and Seto opened the door to admit him, "Arigato for coming Doctor. My friends aren't here yet, but I believe your assistance will be essential."

"It is no problem Kaiba-sama. I'm glad to be of help." Dr. Blaine had been the Kaiba's personal physician for ten years, he was a kind grandfatherly type of man with grey hair and kind hazel eyes hidden behind round spectacles. He was directed to the room that would be used and they left to set up everything.

Just moments after the doctor's arrival, the doorbell rang again. Mokuba rushed to answer it, admitting a battered Joey and a worried Tristan. "Oh Joey, what happened?"

Joey smiled at Mokuba, he had always liked the kid, "Came up on the wrong side of my father, kid. I'm not going to hide it. Thanks for helping, Kaiba." The last had been addressed to the elder Kaiba brother.

Seto nodded his head, and said, "It's no problem, Mutt. You look like hell, Tristan, follow me, we'll get him settled into one of the guest rooms and Dr. Blaine can get to work."

The men proceeded upstairs and after Joey was settled they waited in the study for word from the doctor. "Has anyone called the rest of the group? I know it's early, but they'd want to know." Tristan said.

Mokuba jumped up and ran for the cordless phone, "No, but I'll do it right away." The next fifteen minutes was spent in silence except for Mokuba's voice as he explained why he was calling so early to first Yugi Moutou and Yami, then Ryou and Bakura, then Malik and Merrik, then Mai and Tea, and finally Mokuba called Serenity Wheeler, Joey's younger sister and a fellow class-mate at his private school. Serenity had received a scholarship to their private High School and lived in the dorms there.

"Serenity, it's Mokuba. I"m sorry for calling so late, but it's about Joey."

"Is my brother okay? What happened? Tell me!" Serenity was starting to panic. She jumped out of bed and started to get dressed.

"We don't know yet. Tristan brought him hear and he was in real bad shape. I'll send a car for you, okay. Everyone else is on their way."

"Okay. I'll be waiting outside. How long do you think it will take?"

"About five minutes, maybe less. Don't worry, you'll be at your brother's side in moments."

"Thank you Mokuba, and thank your brother for helping. I'm going to hang up now and go downstairs to wait for the car."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit." With that said, Mokuba hung up the phone and turned to Seto and Tristan, "Everyone's on their way, now it's just a matter of time."

The two men nodded and they all sat down to wait. No more than five minutes had passed when the doorbell rang. Mokuba ran downstairs to answer it, letting in Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, Malik, Merrik, Isis, Rashid, Tea, Mai, and he spotted Serenity coming up the stairs. "Good you're all here. We're waiting in the study. Dr. Blaine still hasn't came out yet."

"How bad is Joey, Mokuba?" Yugi asked, worried about his friend. Yami placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know for sure, but from what I saw, he's not good." Mokuba motioned for the group to follow him and he lead the way up stairs. They all entered the room and exchanged greetings with Tristan and Seto, then settled down for another wait.

Dr. Blaine entered the room thirty minutes later, to find almost everyone draped over any available seat asleep. He cleared his throat and waited for the group to acknowledge him.

Serenity was the first on her feet, "Dr. Blaine, Joey's my brother. How is he?"

Dr. Blaine somewhat smiled, "He'll live. But he was in pretty bad shape. He has two broken ribs, one nearly punctured his left lung, many of his other ribs are bruised. He has a stress fracture in his right leg, and a broken nose. He'll be seeing out of one eye for a while, because the other is swollen shut. He suffered from internal bleeding, but we got that taken care of. He also suffered from a broken arm, so he'll not be dueling for a while." Everyone gave a sad chuckle at that. "Other than that, the young man is in pretty good shape. With a few weeks rest, and no furthur beatings, he'll recover one hundred percent. If you want, you can go see him in fifteen minutes. He was under sedation and should be coming out of it around then. One of my nurses will stay here to care for his needs until he recovers more. He'll be on morphine to dull the pain, but he should be aware of what's going on around him."

Seto stood up and escorted Dr. Blaine and three of his four emergency staff downstairs and to the door, "Thank you Dr. Blaine. We appreciate you coming."

"It's not a problem. Mr. Wheeler confessed it was his father that beat him, I asked him if he wanted to press charges and he said when he healed enough to do so. I think there is another reason behind it, but I told him that I would keep the pictures and all my notes on file and write up a report to supply to the police when he wished to do so."

"Thank you again, Dr. Blaine." Seto opened the door to let the group out and then walked back up to the study.

The nurse who had stayed behind came in a few minutes later, "Hello, I'm Noel Blankenship. I just thought I'd let you know Joey is awake and is asking to see you all. If you would follow me?"

The group trouped out of the study and followed Noel to the room four doors down the hall. When they entered, the ones who hadn't seen Joey before now all gasped, but Serenity was in tears and ran over to Joey's side.

"Oni-san! Oh my, I can't believe he did this too you." Serenity sobbed, and Joey reached his uninjured arm up and pulled her down on to the edge of the bed and gave her a weak hug.

"I'll be okay Ser. I promise. Now can you do me a favor?"

"Anything, big brother. Name it."

"Get the letter out of my jacket pocket, okay. I need to get a phone number from it."

Serenity gasped, she knew what he was going to do, "You're calling her?"

"I made a bargain with God, I think its time she knows the truth."

Serenity smiled, "She's going to come home and kick Marus's ass, as well as yours."

"Watch your language, young lady, and get that damn number." Joey laughed before coughing.

"Joey, buddy, mind telling us what's going on?" Tristan asked, God even hurt he is still so handsome. I've been in love with my best friend for five fucking years and I can't get the courage up to say anything.

Joey smiled at Tristan, "Serenity and I are calling in reinforcements. I'm sorry, but I've been keeping a secret from you all. Serenity and I have an older sister that stayed in the states when my family moved here. She keeps in touch with us through chat and email, and an occassional phone call."

Before anyone could react, Serenity sang out, "Got it!" She rushed over to her brother's side and proceeded to dial the international number from the phone next to the bed. She turned to Seto, "I'll pay for the charges, I promise."

Seto just shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Just make your call."

The call went through and their was a few minutes silence as Serenity waited for the phone to be picked up. She placed the call on Speaker phone and they all waited.

Finally at the fifth ring a voice answered. "Hello? Who is this?" A man spoke through the phone.

"Hi, uhmm. Is Cadenza available?" Serenity asked.

"May I ask who's calling?" The man asked.

"This is her sister, Serenity." Serenity was relieved, she had the right number.

"Just a moment." They could hear the phone be set down, "Hey Bitch! You have a phone call!"

"Shut the damn fuck up you homo!" They could hear laughing on the other end. And not long afterward Raine's soothing soprano rang through the phone line, "Hello. How can I help you?"

"Za, it's Joey."

There was dead silence for a few minutes, and then "Jo-Jo? What's wrong honey?"

Serenity spoke up, "Can you come home, Za? I think we need you here."

"Wren? Oh god, what's happened?" Panic was taking root in Raine's voice.

"Dad beat Joey up. It's not the first time he's done it, but this is the worst. Please, come home." Serenity pleaded with her older sister.

"Jo-Jo, is this the truth?" Raine asked, already trying to find out what she'd need to take, and how long it would take to get there.

"Yea, Za, it is. I didn't want to worry you because I knew you had school. I'm sorry." Joey softly replied.

"It's not your fault, honey. Though you should have called me the first time it happened, I could always have transferred to Japan. You know that." Raine motioned her room-mate away.

Joey sobbed, he was so happy to hear Raine's voice again, "I know. I miss you, will you please come home?"

"Answer me two questions, then I'll let you know."

"Okay. Ask away." Serenity piped up.

"Well, actually its three, first, where the fuck is that no-good dirty rotten asshole of a father of ours? Second, Where the fuck is Mom? And Third, Why the fuck do you have me on speaker phone?"

Joey started the answers, "First, the last I saw of Marus was him passed out on the floor."

Serenity followed, "Second, Mom really doesn't give a damn what's going on."

Joey again, "And third, there is a room full of people that until this day didn't know you existed. So, I figured this would be a good oppurtunity for them to hear about you."

Raine growled, "I'll be there in less than twelve hours. And listen closely you two. I will deal with our parents. Mark my words."

Joey gulped, his sister sounded dangerous, "We'll meet you at the airport."

"The hell you will, Joey! The Doctor said you're bed boud for a few weeks." Tristan shouted.

"Okay, okay. They'll meet you at the airport. I'll just wait here for you to show up."

Seto decided that then would be a perfect time to speak up, "Ms. Wheeler, I will gladly pay for the ticket, and you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need."

Raine chuckled, "I will not accept the offer for the ticket, but I would gladly accept the offer of a place to stay, I'd prefer to be as close to Joey as I can. There will also be another person coming with me, my room-mate, Eric Cameron. If that would be okay, Mr., I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Seto laughed, "I'm sorry, I didn't throw it. I'm Seto Kaiba."

"The Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp. I'm honored to meet your acquaintence, Kaiba-sama. I'm glad my brother has friends that can protect him until I arrive. Well, I should be going, I still have to call the airline and get my stuff packed, knowing Eric, he's already ready."

Everyone laughed and Serenity piped up, "Bye Za, We'll see you when you get here."

Joey started crying, his weak sobs reaching over the speaker to touch Raine's heart, "Hurry Raine, I need to see you. I missed you."

"Jo-Jo, don't cry. I missed you too, and I'm coming home.

End Chapter One.

A/N: Well, what do you all think? I'd really love it if you would review, let me know what you like about it and what you hate about it. Like I said, this is the first fanfic I've written.

So, Review, please. Thank you!