Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ From within the Flames ❯ Memories and Darkness ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: UPDATE!!!!!!! ^_^

Kathrine: This should have been ready yesterday, but we ended up getting sick.

JC: Oh well, we still put a lot of work into it and we hope that it was worth your wait.

Kathrine: We're rather put out. If you haven't been on AdultFanfiction.Net, or you just didn't check the previous post, you don't know that our mom cut off the cable. She said it was distracting us from schoolwork. We aren't even the ones with bad grades. (growls)

JC: So we're mad about that and took it out on some of our favorite characters. Unfortunately, Jou's point in the story is angst and torture safe for the moment so we took it out on another 'lovable' blonde.

Kathrine: And we have a real twist in the story that we don't think ANY of you are expecting.

JC: Make that a few twists.

Kathrine: Lots of things happening and we won't even give ya a hint.

JC: Now, enjoy. ^_^ We know we did.

Disclaimer: NO own. We can't even watch it on TV anymore. !_!

Warnings: Dark themes, painful flashbacks for children, Implied NCS, Implied Abuse, Cliffhanger. Have fun. Not for young children. LET THE DARKNESS REIGN!!!!

From within the Flames

By Kathrine and JC

Chapter 7 - Memories and Darkness

" Rashid!" he exclaimed in anxious relief. He rushed to the doorway and hugged the older man immediately.

" Where is he?" was the first question from the nearly bald man's lips.

" Over there," he pointed to the inert figure he'd managed to pull onto the couch. The floor was still sticky with blood in front of it, but he was too rattled to even think of cleaning it up. His lover's brother nodded and moved instantly to the unconscious blonde's side. His eyes widened slightly at the angry marks that donned his younger sibling's back.

" Oh Marik…" he murmured.

" You're going to help him right?" Malik was practically hysterical.

" Go get some bandages from the bathroom and antiseptic," He told him in a formal and apathetic voice. Malik stared at him in shock for a moment. How could he not be upset over Marik being hurt? But he looked at him from the side of his face and could see the concern and worry in there.

He's just as worried as I am, he realized. " All right," he spoke before hurrying off to get what was requested of him.

Rashid watched him go and slowly kneeled down next to his brother. He had to remain calm and in control, no matter how much he wanted to lose said control at the sight of the damage done. But Isis warned me of something like this happening, he remembered. But she said no one could prevent this either. " Don't worry 'Master'," he assured him. " Everything will be fine."

" Rashid?" dry lips moved of their own accord, a face suddenly twisting in pain. Lavender eyes fluttered slightly before opening to stare into blue. " Why-My back…!" The words transformed into a whimper of pain. " Gods, wha…"

" Calm down," the other told him. " You need to remain still or the pain will only become greater."

" Rashid…Malik…where…?" but the lavender eyes were quickly dimming. He was losing consciousness rapidly and Rashid was rather glad for that. It would work better if the younger teen wasn't awake for the entire process.

" He's fine, just rest for now," he soothed him. Marik stared blankly at him before he finally lost his battle with the darkness that enveloped him.

" I found it!" Malik took that moment to rush into the room, washcloths and a small container of water in his hands as well as what he'd originally been asked for.

" We best hurry or the dried blood will be harder to clean from his body," Rashid took the supplies and set them out.

" I-I don't know how this happened!" Malik's voice was shaken. " The hieroglyphs are the same…they're the same as the ones on my back."

" There is a reason for this," dark-haired man replied. " Something's are meant to be."

" But why?!" the blonde demanded. " Why is this happening to him? Is it because it happened to me? It's all those damn rods' fault!"

" Rods?" Rashid turned away from cleansing him brother's back and stared at him. " What 'rods' are you talking about?"

" Those!" he pointed to the previously unnoticed golden items that had been shoved under the coffee table. The man's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the two identical scepters with the Eye of Horus as their emblem.

" One of those things did something to Marik!" Malik accused. " I don't know how he got one! I found mine years ago!"

Rashid filed away that information and turned back to his brother's side. " We shall wait until Isis returns to worry about those 'items'," he replied. " Now 'Master' Marik is our main concern."

" You still call him that? He hates it," the blonde reminded him. Long ago Rashid had started calling his younger brother that after a game of pretend gone awry. Marik wanted his older brother to pretend to be his servant for the day, only didn't take to well to be called Master every time his brother spoke to him. It made him feel as if he wasn't just playing a game and Rashid purposely doted on him the entire day because of it. He refused to even let the poor child brush his own teeth or put on his own clothes. The four-year old Marik had sworn never to play pretend like that again as long as he could still be 'grown up'.

Rashid smiled at the memory. It was one of the few he and Marik still had to remember. It was before their mother had disappeared and their father had been sent away. He reached up and touched the markings that were etched into the side of his face. Things will become much harder for you now dear brother, he thought sadly. But at least you have someone like Malik who shall be there to help you through it.

*****

The world moved by quickly, the scenery changing as the car sped down the highway. " Where are we going?" Jounouchi repeated his question. He'd asked that twice since they'd gotten into the car. Kaiba had practically threatened him into entering the vehicle in the first place. They'd left the Kaiba mansion behind over a half an hour ago, but he had barely seen any of it. The brunette had directed him straight through the corridor and down another one that led from the room to the car garage on the estate. Ironically enough, the same thought kept coming to him.

He's dragging me around like a dog on a leash or something, he blonde frowned to himself. I really wish I understood why I agreed to this in the first place. Suddenly, they turned off of the highway onto a dirt road leading into the woods. I don't like this. The road seemed rather twisted with the way they wound around so many different trees and forestry. He couldn't even tell where they were going seeing as there were more than one dirt road between more than one intersections. How the hell can there be so many different roads in the middle of the woods? But then remember who was driving the car he was in.

Seto on the other hand wasn't really thinking. He'd done quite a bit of that the night before and while in the sanctity of his own home. He knew what he was doing and what he wanted so all he had to do was act on it and everything would go according to plan. He caught the sight of a small tree that was bent over backward, irregular, but mostly plain enough to blend in with the sounding area. We're here, he smirked.

He pulled into the grass beside the tree and stopped the car. " Where are we?" Jou inquired. " What are we doing out in the middle of the backwoods?"

" You'll see," Kaiba told him before tapping the small Kaiba Corp. emblem on the collar of his trench coat. " Open up Arin."

< Yes Kaiba-sama > the blonde heard a feminine voice reply in the car speakers. < What about your guest? > He looked around but couldn't understand where the voice had come from. Who was this 'Arin' Kaiba was talking to?

" He's here for the new project," Kaiba answered in a somewhat stony tone. He hated to be questioned for his decisions.

< You don't have to be cranky about it > she huffed almost.

" Just do it," Kaiba growled.

< Whatever > the voice replied before everything around them began to shake. Jou's eyes widened in fear.

" It's an earthquake!" he exclaimed. " We have to get outta the car!"

" Oh shut up you whimpering mutt," Seto frowned. " Just control yourself, if that's possible, and you'll see."

" Why you arroga-!" the blonde's words were cut off by the feeling of the ground below his sinking. He watched in shock as the forest seemed to rise above them…or would it be that they descended below it? Darkness followed them even when the sun was shinning outside. The car disappeared and the ground seemed as if it had never been touched. If anyone were to have seen the event they would have believed the forest swallowed the car and its passengers whole. The only thing that seemed out of place was the strange swaying of the bent tree's branches.

*****

/ " Ohayoo Papa!" he greeted his father as he practically skipped up the small walk to their house. He stopped during his merry run, confused for a moment. His papa didn't even say anything to him, merely got into the car and drove away. He shrugged and went on his way. His father was like that a lot lately. He was always in a rush to do something and forgetting to say 'hi' or 'goodbye'.

He hurried into the house as fast as he could. He was so happy to be coming from his first day of school. He had to see his brother and tell him about it. " Rashid!" he called out. " Brother, I'm home! It was so great! 'Lik and I were even in the same class as Kura! And Kura's dad was there talking about police stuff and…" His words died away when he noticed something. Rashid wasn't answering him.

" Rashid?" he shouted out into the house, his voice echoing slightly. " Onii-san!!! Rashie, where are you?"

He didn't hear anything. He looked around, but couldn't find him. He finally ran up the stairs, leaving his coat and bookbag on the living room couch, and knocked on his brother's bedroom door. No one answered, so he opened it anyway. " Rashid?" he called into the room. A small gasp was heard as he turned on the light.

" Onii-" his words caught in his throat. There was dark red all over the floor. It smeared the creamy tan carpet and changed it to a burnt brown-looking color. But his eyes were still locked on the figure on the bed, body twisted in stained white sheets. One eye was half-closed and somewhat wet and shiny as it stared him, the other shut and covered by the wet and sticky reddish stuff. Taking a closer look he realized it was the stuff that came out when he cut himself or scrapped his knee, Blood.

" M-mar-rik…" his brother whispered as his eye opened more.

" R-Rashid?" the blonde was practically in shock. " Y-You're hurt…"

" It's all right Marik," the older boy assured him, as he forced himself to move, limbs shaking. " Go play little Master."

" But your face…what's wrong with it? You look hurt really bad," Marik didn't want to leave his brother's side. It was obvious that something bad had happened to him and he didn't know what to do. " Papa just left, does he know you're hurt?"

Rashid didn't say anything. He looked away at the mere mention of their father. " Rashie?" the young child waited for an answer. His brother didn't say anything, he tried to move off the bed, only to be crippled by pain as if he'd hurt his back. " Onii-san!" Marik rushed to his side. " You need a doctor! Momma always said doctors make it to where you don't hurt no more."

" I'm all right," Rashid spoke in a sterner voice.

" But you're face has that blood stuff all over it and your eye's stuck shut and it looks like you got a tattoo on you cheek and…" the blonde was forced to stop so he could take a breath. " See? You need a doctor! And we have to call Papa and tell him!" He didn't miss the shudder that went through his brother's body at that statement. It made him think of something.

" Is Papa the one that hurt you?" he asked in a small voice. Rashid's one good eye stared at him in shock. " He the one that hurt you so bad?" The blonde almost didn't want to think of the possibility, but ever since Momma had come up missing Papa had been a lot meaner to his older brother. He thought it had to do with the fact that his Papa always said that he wasn't Rashid's real papa and that he was adopted or something.

" Marik," Rashid spoke.

" Did he?" the little boy repeated. Before his older brother could say anything his eye seemed to roll backward before the teen collapsed on the floor. " No!" Tears came to Marik's eyes and he kneeled next to his brother's form. " Rashie get up! Please, you're not that hurt! You can get up!" He was really afraid. Why wouldn't his brother get up?

" I have to get a doctor!" But how was he supposed to get one? But then he remembered what they had learned at school that day from Kura's dad. " He said to call 9-1-1!" (A/N: We know it's not 9-1-1, but work with us here! It's AU!)

He looked up instantly and stared at the phone that was on the nightstand on the other side of his brother's bed. Without another thought he climbed on the bed and scurried across it to the telephone. He grabbed the phone with one hand and used the other to dial the emergency phone number. He suddenly noticed the sticky feeling on his fingers and palm and looked down at it. He almost thought it was blood because of it being smelly and sticky, but whatever it was wasn't red.

{ " Hello, this is emergency medical and police," a calm feminine voice answered. " What is the urgency?" }

" My big brother's hurt really bad!" he cried into the phone. " He fell on the floor and won't get up! He's got blood all over his face and…!"

{ " It's okay kid," the woman told him. " Where are your parents? Are they home?" }

" Papa left when I came home and Rashid was in his room and there was blood and his face and he won't get up…" Marik startled to ramble on. He couldn't help it. Rashid always said that he talked a lot when he was excited or scared or upset or...

{ " Where do you live?" the woman asked, catching his attention. " I'll send an ambulance right away." }

" 3170 Jagu Street," Marik rattled off by memory. " But you gotta hurry! Rashid's hurt really bad and my friend Bakura's dad a police officer and he said that you're supposed to help him." The line was silent for a moment and he was afraid that she's hung up on him. " Hello, are you there? Please don't hang up, you're supposed to help Rashid!"

{ " I'm here," she assured him. " You're friend's father is a police officer? What's his name?" }

" Mr. Kytsune," Marik replied.

{ " Okay," she spoke. " Now you just keep an eye on you're brother and make sure that he doesn't start choking or anything all right?" }

" Okay, but his face looks really bad," Marik agreed. " I gotta go! Please just hurry!" He hung up the phone with the woman protesting. He didn't really care as long as they got here in time to help Rashid. He climbed back off the bed and sat down next to his brother. He slowly reached out and touched his bloody face. He couldn't stop the tears from falling down his cheeks anymore.

" Please be okay Rashie," he cried. " I don't want you to go away like Mommy and Birdie did. Birdie died and Mommy…" He started to cry even louder, his wails tuning out the loud sound of sirens as they neared.

Suddenly, he was thrown into darkness, unable to see why or to stop it's proceeding. He looked around, but couldn't understand where he was. He wanted to go back to Rashid, to make sure he was okay. He wanted his best friends, Malik and Bakura, they always made him feel better. He wanted his Momma… Then the voices came.

" Leave him alone!"

" Don't touch me!"

" Stop it! You're hurting him!"

" Marik! Please help me, Marik! Make him stop!"

" I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

" NOOOO!!!!!!!!"

The scream seemed to pierce through his heart as the golden light blinded him. " No," he cried, hands going to his head. " I don't want to remember. I don't want to remember. It's all lies." The images came to him again. The blood, the pain-filled eyes of his friend, the stares that scared him to the bone. The he saw the gold glinting off the lighting, the Eye, the scream, the blood. He didn't want to remember. This wasn't how it happened. It was a lie. It hurt, the pain in his head and on his back. He couldn't stop it, couldn't make it go away. He wanted it to go away. He just wanted it to go away…/

*****

" Go away!" he screamed out before sitting up instantly, hands tightening in his hair from his attempts to pull the blonde strands out. Pain seared through his back and he fell backwards. This only caused more pain.

" It's okay Marik," Malik was by his side instantly. " Just turn over or you'll make it worse." He helped the other blonde to shift onto his back and let out a deep sigh. " It's much better this way, believe me."

" What happened little Master?" Marik's eyes shot over to where his brother was sitting.

" What happened? Why are you here Rashid?" he questioned.

" You're back will be painful for quite some time," the dark-haired man stated, not getting into what had occurred. " It will be best if I do not take you home and you don't go to school tomorrow."

" We have exams tomorrow," Marik disagreed. " Unlike all my other schoolwork I actually care whether or not I pass these. If I don't I fail for the entire year."

" You can take them later on after you're better," Malik assured him. " It will give you extra time to study and you don't have to go to those stupid meetings that we were stuck in. It's not like you can get up anyway."

" What happened to me?" Marik came back to his original question. Rashid said nothing and Malik looked almost nervous at his inquiry. " What are you telling me? Why does my back feel like someone took a carving knife to it or something?" This seemed to make Malik even more anxious. His eyes were turned away from him and staring far off at the same time. It was obvious that neither he nor his brother were going to tell him anything.

" Isis is on her way back to Japan," Rashid finally broke the pregnant silence. " She understands what is happening better than either of us do. She will explain it to both of you on her arrival."

" What do you even remember?" Malik asked. " Do you remember what happened before you passed out?"

The older blonde was silent, thinking. He couldn't remember. But then flashes came to his mind's eye again, gold, blood, pain, cries, fear. He let out a soft moan of distress at the overload of his own mind. He allowed his head to fall back down on the throw pillow it had been resting on. It's not true, he told himself. That was just a nightmare. That's not what happened. Father didn't…Rashid wasn't so…But then…

" Little Master?" Rashid kneeled next to his younger sibling and stroked his hand gently through the other's hair much like he'd always done when Marik had been a child. " You should rest. The bandages on you're back need to been changed soon and it will hurt. You need to hold your strength."

Marik turned his tinted lavender eyes towards his brother, eyes boring into him. His vision then shifted to the markings that covered the right side of Rashid's face, the tattoo he for so long couldn't remember him getting. But now he did remember and no longer had the naïveté of his child self. How could he hurt him like that? his inner voice growled angrily. That bastard, how could he? He then thought of the other images he'd seen. They had to be true as well. How could they hurt people they were supposed to love?

It was strange, as if some darkness was settling inside his soul, feeding off of his anger. He didn't know whether or not he even wanted it gone. The greater it got, the less he could feel the pain, betrayal, and sadness that resided within him from his memories. " Marik?" Rashid brought him back to reality.

Slowly he reached out and lightly traced the scarred tissue of his brother's face. The symbols, hieroglyphs, meant something even if he didn't know what right then. His eyes turned towards Malik, who was staring at him in worry and confusion. He could feel the darkness recede, the pain returning. " I'm tired," he finally spoke, his voice full of the fatigue he felt.

" You need to rest, like Rashid said," Malik insisted. " We're here for you."

Now normally, Marik would protest anyone trying to 'be there' for him, even Malik and Rashid, but he was too tired to fight them. For some reason, the assurance that they were there, even if he didn't 'want' them to be, gave him a calming sense that cooled the rage he'd been feeling. He allowed this calm to wash over him, keeping the darkness he'd almost greeted at bay and letting a completely different darkness overcome him.

*****

" You're crazy!" Jou shouted at Kaiba as he gazed about at the elaborate set up. " Who else would stick a secret base underneath the ground in the middle of the woods by an national highway?" He knew that if you thought about it, it was actually a rather genius hiding place seeing as people used the woods for hunting all the time, but no one ever said anything about it. He was just pissed that Kaiba had scared the shit out of him like that and almost seemed to enjoy. Bipolar psycho, he thought secretly.

Kaiba merely walked through the small amount of cars that were in the parking garage and into the corridor it opened up to, ignoring the blonde's rant. " Arin, open the 4th Ward," Seto spoke in his normal tone.

< Yes Oh Master > the woman Jounouchi had heard while in the car sounded very sarcastic. < I am here to serve you. >

" You can be reprogrammed," the brunette warned, his irritation showing. He hated when 'she' got like this. Always had to show off around visitors.

< Like to see ya try > the woman laughed. < It didn't work last time. >

" Who the hell are you talking to?" Jou finally demanded. " How can you reprogram a person?"

" 'Person'?" Kaiba repeated before letting out a half-amused laugh. " Of course it would take someone like you a while to realize anything."

" What's that supposed to mean?" the smaller boy frowned. " Not realize what?"

" Arin, Artificial Revolutionized Intelligence Network," Seto stated.

" Nani?" Jou's eyes widened for a moment as he got what the brunette was implying. " You mean that she's a computer?"

< I've been insulted! > said voice cut in. < How dare you compare me to a mere COMPUTER? >

" Gomen," Jou apologized immediately. " It's just like I thought you were some woman sitting in a control you or somethin'."

< You've just redeemed yourself > the voice laughed. < Gods, Seto NEVER compliments me, it's always stupid machine this…I'll find a way to deprogram you that… >

" Arin," Seto growled a warning.

< I get the message > 'she' told him. < This way to Ward 4. Just follow the yellow-lighted hallway. >

The dim lights of the corridors brightened, particularly the ones leading down the hall to their left. Kaiba turned down said hallway and Jou was quick to follow after him, wary of the entire situation. But at least his computer seemed to bust his chops, the blonde smirked inwardly. Seems like there actually IS someone around here I could get along with. They came to a large metal sliding door that 'evidently' had a FOUR etched into it.

" Is HE here?" Seto asked out. Jou knew that he was talking to Arin, but who the 'he' the brunette was talking about.

< He arrived an hour ago > 'she' confirmed. < He was wondering when you were going to show up. >

" I bet," the CEO of Kaiba Corp. snorted.

" I warn you now Pup," Seto turned and gave him an evaluating glare. " You can't turn back now. You couldn't turn back when you first agreed. But from now on you have no other life beside what is here until I say otherwise."

" It's not like I had a life before hand," he snapped back. " Look, I said I'd work with you and I don't go back on my word, even if you did practically blackmail me."

" Technicalities are pointless," Seto stated as the door slid open without a sound, save the air shifting. " Welcome, to Extremus."

" 'The end of'," Jou related the translation. He'd had a scientist for an adopted father, you learn Latin along the way after a while.

" The end of 'what' is of your own choice," The brunette replied. They stepped into the room and Jou looked around. It seemed rather well put together in technology and organization, but he expected no less from a Kaiba.

" Surprise to see you here," a voice caught him off guard. " But I knew I'd see you again sooner or later."

The blonde jumped and spun towards his left to stare into red eyes tinted with violet. " YOU!" he gasped. " I remember you!"

" Oh yes, one of very few who are here to help me with my work," Seto smirked. " But it seems have if you already know him."

" We never had a proper introduction," the shorter teen replied. " Hello…Jounouchi, wasn't it? My name if Shiai Yami, but Yami will do just fine."

A/N: See? Gotta love the cliffies.

JC: We never once said that Yami knew what was going on, but never once said that he DIDN'T either. ~_^

Kathrine: We just like him and Seto working together. Their fights are priceless.

JC: And you see what we did to poor Marik. Gotta love torture, mental and physical.

Kathrine: And if you we hope you got the point of the title of the chapter.

JC: If not, it's okay. Just review and tell us what you think. Things are about to get REAL interesting. ^_^

Kathrine: Oh and if you're wonderin'. Yes, Chibi Marik does call Rashid, 'Rashie'. It's not a typo.