Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Return To Paradise ❯ I Don't Belong Here ( Chapter 34 )

WARNING: BRIEF NCS (with severed limbs), SLANDER, VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE, MARIK / BAKURA LIME! Crusaders in this chapter, so you know the drill and what to expect…nothing good and slightly sickening for those with weak constitutions.

 

I Don't Belong Here

 

Robbie watched as Bakura walked down the steps in his garb. He bit his lip as he snickered. “You are going to wear that?!”

“What? What's wrong with this?” Bakura asked, tugging at the white robe which fell around his ankles. He tightened the blue sash around his waist. “I think Malik's been feeding me too well. After five thousand years, this thing got a little snug.”

“You look like you should be going trick-or-treating,” Daniel said, raising his eyebrow.

Bakura fastened his silver ankh around his neck. “I prefer the tricking. That part's more fun anyway. Go to Ishtar for the treats. I wonder what's keeping his ass. HEY, ISHTAR! STOP STROKING IT AND LET'S GO, WILL YA?!”

“I'll check on him,” Miranda said.

“Do you have everything you need, Bakura?”

Bakura nodded at Robbie. “I managed to grab some canopic jars, the necessary herbs, as well as a few precious commodities the museum will never miss because they have never seen them.”

“What did you grab?”

Bakura reached into his backpack and removed a necklace. “This necklace was something I found back when I was alive. I buried it near the Oasis so I would know where it was. It's a protection amulet. It will make Aten strong in the afterlife and preserve his strength for the trials which lay ahead of him on his journey through the Underworld. Thankfully nobody has disturbed my home in the desert, so many of my belongings are probably still buried there. In fact, I have asked Isis to leave that area untouched by her excavators. I may not live at the Oasis, but it is still my Home. When I lived there, I was content. I was away from Yami's rule. It was my paradise away from civilization. I'm glad to see she has honored my request even after all of these years.”

Daniel looked at Bakura. “How did you die?”

Bakura clasped a hand on Daniel's shoulder. “I'll start from the beginning.”

As Bakura told his story, Miranda was knocking on Robbie's bedroom door.

“Marik, are you doing okay in there? Do you need help?”

“Come in, Miranda.”

Miranda opened the door and saw Marik staring at himself in Robbie's mirror. His long, white robe reached to the floor like Bakura's. A purple sash with woven gold tied around his waist. Around his neck hung Aten's necklace and his own gold ankh.

“You look handsome.”

Marik's shoulders sagged as rain patted on the window. “I'm performing the burial rites for my son tonight. I'm….going to have to do things which no father should do to his own child's dead body.”

“I don't understand, Marik. You wanted to do this for Aten. Are you afraid of doing it?”

Marik shook his head. “No parent should have to bury their child, Miranda. You of all people should know that.”

Miranda sighed and crossed her arms. “I do.”

“I owe Aten the honor of being buried with the rites that I have never received.” Marik turned to Miranda, his cheeks shimmering with renewed tears. “These rites are sacred and considering the difficult life my son has lead, he deserves to have his body blessed and purified. I do not have the forty days to complete the mummification, but I will do what is possible.”

Miranda walked up to Marik and took his hands in her own. “Marik, don't be afraid of this. Your son would want you to do this for him. I know Aten would approve.”

Marik released her hands and hugged her against him. “I never received these sacred rituals, Miranda. My body was buried in sand, exhumed, and my body left for the dogs to feast upon. There were no rites for me. For Itemri….his body was dragged through the streets naked and his body was defiled after his torture and murder. I don't want my son to suffer the same indignation.” Marik sniffled. “My little boy was my world, Miranda. I loved him more than a father could ever love his offspring. Now….the sun has set….and so my son has also fled from my sight.”

Miranda hugged him back. “You are a good father, Marik. Go perform the rites for Aten.” She pulled back from the embrace and smiled at him. She reached up and caressed his cheek with the palm of her hand. “The ones who leave us are never really gone until we forget them. Only when we forget the dead are they truly dead.”

Marik looked into her blue eyes and sensed a familiar presence that he had known in his lifetime.

******Flashback*****

Marik ran through the night, using the stars to guide him. His blond hair fluttered behind him as he ran towards the nomadic settlement.

His father had demanded that he marry his betrothed, a girl from another Noble family.

“I only want Amunet!” he told his father. “I don't want to live the life you want me to live!”

“Then you are a fool, Marik Jibade Ishtar! A fool! I sired a fool! Well, fools do not belong to the illustrious House of Ishtar! You are hereby BANISHED from my presence! You are no longer part of the Ishtar heritage! You are dead to me, Marik! YOU ARE DEAD TO THE FAMILY OF ISHTAR FOR YOUR INSOLENCE! GET OUT! GET OUT BEFORE I HAVE YOU HANGED FOR TRESSPASSING ON ISHTAR PROPERTY, YOU TRAITOR!”

Marik ran through the desert night, his breathing quickening as he ran for her tent.

The sheep began to call out as he approached. The bells began to clang as the oxen moved.

Marik entered the settlement and found a light lit in Amunet's tent. He pulled open the drape of the tent and smiled. He closed the drape behind her.

“Amunet, my love. Wake up,” he said, caressing her cheek.

The young woman opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Marik with a smile. “Beloved? Where were you?”

Marik took her hand and kissed it lovingly. “I have made my decision. It is done.”

She looked up at him, confused. “What have you chosen?”

Marik leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. She closed her eyes as her lover began to caress her cheek and neck affectionately.

Marik slowly settled beside her. The young woman slid the blankets down, revealing a tiny baby bump.

He broke the kiss slowly and smiled down at her. Marik looked down at the belly where his child grew. His hand went to her belly. “I love you, Amunet. I can't imagine leaving you. You are like the stars in the night; you guide me. You offer light in the darkness. Your beauty is more magnificent than Isis herself. You are my world and the center of my universe.” Marik kissed the tiny bump on her belly. “Amunet, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

*********End Flashback******

 

“Miranda….”

“Marik, are you okay? You're looking at me funny.”

Marik blinked and shook his head. “It was…nothing. I should get going.”

Miranda watched Marik walk quickly from the room. “What is he hiding?”

***********************

 

Bakura and Marik slipped into the morgue of the hospital quietly. Despite their being a lack of shadows to sneak through, the yamis used their Items to enter the building undetected.

“Does anyone know we are here?” Marik asked.

“Zira knows we wanted to purify Aten's body, but nobody else needs to know we are here. Being dead does have its advantages,” Bakura grinned as the Millennium Ring stopped glowing.

“People would have thought we were crazy people if we walked in here looking like we do,” Marik said. “Of course, we're crazy anyway.”

Bakura removed the backpack from his shoulders. “Very true. Anyway, let's get this started before the morgue gets populated again. I'd like to save some energy to sneak out of here again undetected, so I don't want to erase too many minds tonight.”

Bakura reached into his backpack and removed a small bundle. “Zira also wants us to figure out, if possible, what killed Aten.”

Marik shrugged. “Do we look like doctors?”

“I know some medicine, don't worry. I learned from a surgeon who turned out to be a really good pickpocket. He devoted himself to thievery on the side.”

“Not surprising. Sedate the patient then pick his wallet. That's clever. Let's find which drawer holds my son.”

Bakura walked along the drawers of bodies looking at the names on each of the doors. “Ishtar, check this out.”

Marik approached Bakura. “What?”

Bakura pointed at the name: Jane Doe #5.

“Jane Doe?”

“Okay. Maybe I've watched too much television. They use that to identify unknown people. This chick was unidentified. I wonder if it's one of those chickies who have fallen victim to Sgt. Barnes. Let's take a look, shall we?”

Bakura opened the drawer and looked at the dead girl. “She looks...familiar. Where do I know her from?”

Marik looked at the dead woman, who appeared to be about twenty years old. She had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and her stomach had been sliced open.

Bakura winced as he looked at her wounds. “Awful. Such a waste of life.”

Marik looked closely at the injuries. “These cuts look like they were done hurriedly.”

“Well, when you stab someone, Ishtar, you want it to be quick! Who wants the cops with their firesticks chasing after you?”

“She was butchered, Itemri.”

Bakura nodded. “That she was. I wonder if she was also a victim of Sgt. Barnes. If what my people said were right, I wouldn't doubt it for a second.”

“Why would the Chief of Police do such a thing? I mean, this girl looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly.”

“It's scumbags like that who prey on people like this, Ishtar. If she didn't have family or someone who cared for her, who would even notice her missing?”

Marik shook his head. “I've got a bad feeling about this.”

“I always get a bad feeling when dealing with people of that position who wield that kind of power. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Marik grinned, reaching over to caress Bakura's buttocks. “You use your tongue so eloquently.”

“I've learned early never to fear the man with the knife. Fear the person who holds a white flag of peace and a smile on their face. That person can be deadly.” Bakura pushed the drawer back inside and shut the door.

Marik walked ahead and stopped short. A door marked `Aten Bakari Ishtar Ibn Marik' stood before him in the cold room.

The yami placed the Millennium Rod into his belt strap and turned to Bakura. “Here he is.”

Bakura approached the door slowly and looked at the metal. “Didn't think I'd see this so quickly, Marik.”

Marik reached out with a shaking hand to open the drawer containing the body of his son. “Itemri….”

“Can you do this? Are you sure you want to do this?”

Marik pulled his trembling hand back. “No. You open it.”

Bakura reached out and pulled the drawer back. Aten's body was revealed as they pulled the drawer out.

Marik looked down at his dead son. Aten's eyes had closed and his arms were crossed over his chest. A small incision on his stomach drew his attention.

“Why has he been cut?”

“Joey took Aten's liver. Didn't you know?”

Marik swallowed hard. `I won't have everything I need to perform the ceremony. I'll need to find Aten a new liver if I can manage it.'

“I might have been told.”

Bakura laid his tools on a nearby surgical table. “Zira put it in after he died. Joey seems to be doing fine so far. Seto left a message on our answering machine contraption thing at home.”

Bakura pointed to Aten's ribs. “He looks bruised. I wonder if he got into a fight before he died.”

Marik looked down at his son's body sadly. He raised his hand and pet Aten's long white and blond hair which fell around his shoulders. His hands brushed lightly against Aten's cold, stiff skin. His coffee-colored skin had turned paler from his time in the freezer.

“It's hard to see you like this, my son. Your heart rests now after its long struggle.” Marik's bottom lip trembled. “I…I love you so much, Aten. However, I know that what I am going to do will ensure that you receive the blessings that myself and your Uncle Bakura never had.” Marik's eyes scanned the naked body of his son. “I made this, Itemri.”

Bakura nodded with a small smile. “It was good work, Marik.”

Marik's fingers traced Aten's cheek again. “I kissed him here every night when I tucked him into bed. I still remember holding him after he was born. He was so tiny, Itemri…you remember, don't you?”

Bakura nodded. “Yeah, I don't know how Ryou managed to carry him to term, considering my daughter was big and she kicked a lot.”

Marik leaned over and kissed Aten's forehead. “My baby boy.”

Bakura watched the father mourn for his son as he approached with cloth and a bowl of water. “Ishtar?”

The Egyptian kissed Aten's cheek one last time. “Okay. I'm ready.”

“You'll have to read from the book, Ishtar. I'd only be able to pick out a few words. Those prayers are written in that Noble Tongue. I can join in when I know what the hell you are saying.”

Marik went over to Bakura's bag and picked up the black book of Rites. He opened it up and flipped through.

Bakura wrung the cloth in the bowl. “Have you found it yet?”

“Yeah, I've found it. This book is confusing.”

“That's something we can both agree on.”

Marik stood over the body of his son and read from the book. “Holy Gods of Egypt, today we offer you the body of your servant, Aten Bakari Ishtar Ibn Marik. Though the body remains, the ka lives on, worshipping you from the depths of the Netherworld. Today we consecrate this body, this…..shell so that the ka may one day return to this body and Aten will be reborn.”

Bakura began washing Aten's body with the water. “Holy Osiris, King of the Dead, symbol of life and rebirth, to you do we give praise. May Anubis guide your faithful servant, Aten Bakari Ishtar, safely into your chambers where he will declare a final judgment, weighing his heart against the feather of Maat.”

“Almighty Ra, whom created human beings from thy tears, bless the body of this boy, Aten. The God Aten, who shines his rays of light from your glorious sun, gives life to all who dwell in this mortal world. The God Aten gives light into what would be a dark existence.” Marik sniffled and wiped his eye. “The God Aten be praised, giving life to this life throughout his days.”

Bakura finished washing Aten's body. “Beloved Hathor, daughter of Ra and Nut, we thank you for the food and water given to our fallen son's ka on his journey through the underworld. We offer you water and Dates as a sacrifice.” Bakura held up a bowl of dates and a cup of water.

“Where did you get the Dates?” Marik asked.

Bakura winked and smiled at his partner. “Don't worry about it.”

Marik looked into the book. “God Anubis, we ask you to be present as we perform these ancient rituals, O, God of Funeral Rites! Bless this body so that its ka may find its way safely into your sacrosanct chambers.”

Bakura grabbed a scalpel and looked at Marik. “Do you want to do this?”

“It might be better for you to do it. You are used to cutting people up.”

“If I cut, you have to reach in there for the organs. I'm not doing this all by myself.”

Marik nodded. “Deal.”

Bakura put the blade against Aten's flesh beneath the heart. “Don't fuck with the heart. He'll need that in the underworld.”

“What if something happened to the heart? I want to take a look.”

Bakura shrugged. “Okay. Zira did want us to let him know if we discovered anything.”

The white-haired yami made an incision over the heart and pulled back the flesh. Marik looked inside where the dead heart rested motionless.

“That was the reason for all of my son's troubles.”

Bakura raised an eyebrow. “That heart looks like crap.” Bakura prodded some of the lungs out of his way so he could take a better look at the heart. “That left ventricle looks blown. There's not much of it left.” Bakura moved a piece of the heart to the side.

“He needs his heart in the underworld, Bakura. Don't ruin it!”

“I won't ruin it. I'm skilled with a blade, remember. What's this?” Bakura saw a chunk of a blood clot and a burst blood vessel. “A heart attack. But it looks like the clot broke away. The rest of the clot must be elsewhere in his body.”

Marik pet Aten's hair. “Poor boy. Let's see if we can find it as we do our ritual.”

Bakura nodded. He walked over to his backpack and picked out the canopic jars. “Okay. We need the lungs. We don't have the liver, so we'll just leave that one empty.”

Marik took Bakura's scalpel and looked at the organs. “I have to keep the heart intact.”

“I have the jar all ready, Ishtar. Get the lungs.”

Marik reached inside his son's body and carefully removed the lungs one by one. As he held them in his hands, he sighed. `My son breathed with these….I remember when he cried for the first time after his birth. Now here they are in my hands.'

“Ishtar! I have the jar open! Just put the lungs in there already!”

Marik placed the lungs in the jar and closed it tightly. “May the gods protect the lungs of thy servant, for they praise you even in their stillness.”

“Okay, now we need the stomach.”

Marik reached inside the cold, stiff body and removed the stomach. He placed it in the other canopic jar Bakura held. “May the gods bless this stomach, which has eaten of your bounty.”

“The intestines.”

Marik reached into the incision and removed the intestines nervously. “I don't want to ruin any of these organs.”

Bakura nodded. “Just be careful and take your time. There's no rush. If anyone walks in, it's their lunch that will be lost, not mine.”

Marik placed the intestines in the last canopic jar. They packed the body with sweet smelling resins and sewed the incision.

Bakura handed the hook to Marik. “Now we get to the messy part. You're the father.”

Marik reached out for the hook and looked at Aten's nostril. “Do we have the--?”

“Yes, I have the stuff to pack the brain cavity, too. I thought of everything.”

Marik took a deep breath.

Bakura took the ritual book from Marik's hand. “Marik, if this is too much for you, then we can stop.”

“No….I will continue through the rites.”

Marik slipped the hook slowly into Aten's left nostril. He began to remove the brain through the nose, fighting back his own tears.

`I owe this to Aten. He was my son. He deserves the rituals I never received.'

Marik slipped the hook into the other nostril and began to remove the brain when a chunk of grey matter was removed with a clot clinging to it.

Bakura picked up the piece of brain with the clot and noticed how bloody the brain had become. “Aten didn't just die of a heart attack. Aten died of a stroke.”

“A what?”

“Remember Zira always said we had to keep an eye on Aten's pulse because of the risk of clots? A weak heart muscle can cause clots. Apparently, this clot broke off from the one in Aten's heart and traveled to his brain where the blood vessel ruptured.”

Marik took the fatal clot in his hand. “A cardioembolic stroke. I've read a little on Aten's condition when he started having problems with his heartbeat.” Marik looked at the blob of blood. “It's funny, Itemri. This little clot no bigger than my fingernail killed my son.”

Bakura nodded. “At least he didn't suffer, Ishtar.”

“No, Itemri. He did suffer for eighteen years.” Marik sniffled. “My son deserved a death better than this.”

Bakura walked around to the blond yami and put a comforting hand on Marik's shoulder. “We all deserve a better death, Marik. Not everyone gets to die in a warm, comfortable bed.” Bakura turned Marik's face towards him and looked him in the purple, teary eyes. “Just look at us, partner. We didn't deserve the deaths we were given. I may have done some bad things. I may have killed 184 or 185 people in my life, but every one of those deaths was deserved. No matter how bad I was, I certainly didn't deserve to be tortured and murdered. That was the death I was given. I had no choice in my death. My life was taken from me….violently.”

Marik's eyes peered into the chocolate brown eyes staring at him. “I guess you're right, Itemri.”

“I know I'm right, Ishtar. I didn't want to be beaten, starved, raped, and strangled. I would have preferred dying at home….at my Oasis. That's the only place I can still say to this day that I want to die, if given another chance at death. I would just want to lie in the sand, watching the lake. I'd want to feel the hot desert breeze blowing through my hair. As my life slipped away, I wanted to lay among the trees of my Oasis, my sanctuary. However, we don't always get what we want. I've learned to accept it.”

Marik stepped closer to Bakura. “You really want to die, don't you, `Kura?”

Bakura looked down, avoiding Marik's gaze. “I don't belong here, Ishtar. I belong in paradise, in the underworld. It was Yami's curse that has bound me to this world, to my Millennium Item. Now, I just exist. I want to rest, Marik. I'm tired…..and I want to rest in peace. But, I can't rest as long as my Item exists.”

Marik leaned down to Bakura's ear. “Someday, `Kura, the curse will lift…and we can go Home.”

Bakura shook his head and stepped away from Marik and Aten's body. “We should finish this up and leave. It's getting late and there are many other things I wish to do tonight.”

“Such as?”

Bakura packed the book into the backpack. “Well, I figured we spend a little time together, seeing as Ry and Malik are taken care of tonight. We have the entire night to ourselves until tomorrow afternoon when we have to go hear the reading of Aten's Will.”

Marik looked down at Aten's body. “We just have to finish this quick.”

Bakura grabbed a jar from the backpack and approached the body. “Here's the stuff we have to place in the brain cavity.”

“I think I got out the brain. Give me the jar.”

Bakura handed Marik the jar and watched the father insert the jar's contents into the brain cavity. The white-haired yami could see his partner's tears creeping from the sides of his eyes as he packed Aten's skull with the sweet-smelling concoction.

When the contents of the jar were full, they packed the backpack with their supplies and the canopic jars.

“I'll place the jars into Aten's coffin,” Marik said. “This way he can take them with him to his final resting place.”

Bakura washed his hands and zipped the backpack. “Sounds like a plan.” The yami put a comforting hand on Marik's shoulder. “I'll give you some time to say goodbye to him. I'll be outside.”

Marik watched Bakura walk towards the door and disappear as his Item glowed. The father looked down at his son's body and caressed his son's cheek. “Always remember, Aten, your father loves you. It wasn't easy doing this for you tonight, but you are my son, and I would do whatever I could for you.” Marik kissed his dead son's cheek. “You will come back to us soon, Aten. I will see that this is so. I love you, baby boy.”

Marik stood back and slid Aten's body back into the drawer. His Item glowed and he disappeared as he and Bakura left the morgue.

*********************

Seto returned to the dinner table and sat beside Ryou. “The hospital called and told me that Joey's body hasn't rejected the liver yet. So far, so good.”

Ryou sipped his wine. “That's a good thing. I'm glad everything went well for him.”

Seto took Ryou's hand. “You know, Ry, if it wasn't for you, Joey wouldn't have a new liver right now.”

Ryou sighed. “I know. I just wish there could have been another way.”

“We all do, Ry.”

Ryou looked at the table beside them where Donny, Kendall, and Malik were chatting. “It was nice of you to take us out, Seto. I'm sorry if I'm not very hungry tonight. Tomorrow is Aten's funeral and….I'm……I miss my son, Seto.”

Seto put his arm around Ryou's shoulders and held him close. “I know, angel. His death was a terrible blow to all of us. But, he is resting now and he won't feel any more pain where he is.”

Ryou wiped away a small stream of tears coursing down his cheeks. “It's going to be so hard with him not around. I thought I had prepared for this sixteen years ago when they told me he would die. I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought.”

Seto caressed Ryou's cheek. “You can always plan for it, but you never know how it hits you until it actually happens.”

Ryou looked into the baby blue eyes of Seto Kaiba and sniffled. “I want my baby, Seto.”

Ryou buried his face into Seto's shoulders and cried. Seto held the crying man as Malik turned around in his seat.

“Ry, it's going to be okay. Don't cry,” Malik said softly.

Seto caressed Ryou's soft, white hair. “There, there, Ry. Let it all out.” The CEO kissed Ryou's forehead tenderly and nuzzled him with his cheek. “You're too beautiful to cry, Ryou.”

Ryou sniffled as Kendall turned around to offer his boss a package of tissues.

“You keep tissues in your pocket?” Malik asked.

“With Seto as your boss, you always have to be prepared,” the tall, bald African-American man said.

Seto gently caressed Ryou's cheek, holding and rocking the upset mother who had just lost his only son.

Ryou blew his nose into one of the tissues Kendall gave to him. “Thank you, Kendall.”

“Don't mention it, Ryou. Hey, who ate all the breadsticks?”

Malik grinned at Kendall and blushed. “Oops. Sorry. They were good!”

Ryou looked down at the table, his face red and his cheeks wet. “Sorry, Seto. I shouldn't make a scene like that.”

Seto took a tissue and started to dab Ryou's damp cheeks. “Don't worry about that. Why do you think I got us a table away from everyone else? I know you needed some time to just vent your feelings. That's fine.”

“At least you got us a nice dark corner. I'd rather be un-noticed at the moment.”

Seto chuckled. “And why would that be?”

“This way nobody can see me do what I just did.”

Seto smiled at the hikari and brushed his hand against Ryou's cheek lightly. “Nobody will say anything, angel. If they do, that's why I brought along Donny and Kendall.”

Ryou chuckled. “I thought they were for protection.”

“That, too.” The CEO traced Ryou's eyelid with his thumb gently. “No more tears, angel. You are too beautiful to cry.”

Ryou blushed. “After all these years? After almost twenty years of raising two children?”

“Time cannot erase what I have always felt for you, Ry. You continue to be very special to me. A part of my heart will always belong to you. It is a part that I may never really understand why, but still it is there.” Seto leaned over and kissed Ryou's forehead again. “You will always be my angel, Ry….my shining angel.”

Seto kissed the bridge of Ryou's nose and looked into the chocolate brown eyes staring back at him. “I love you, Ry.”

The CEO leaned down and possessed Ryou's lips in a gentle, tender kiss. Ryou closed his eyes as Seto pulled him closer. Ryou allowed Seto's tongue to slip between his lips, deepening their soft kiss.

“Ry, do you want--?” Malik asked as he turned around. He saw Seto kissing Ryou deeply, caressing the hikari's face tenderly. Malik turned back around, blushing. “I take it they don't want any more breadsticks.”

Ryou whimpered into the kiss as Seto's hand crept under Ryou's shirt and began rubbing his chest. The CEO moaned into the kiss as his fingers brushed against Ryou's warm skin.

Ryou tilted his head back as Seto's kisses drifted down the side of his neck. The hikari whimpered as Seto nibbled lightly on his skin. The CEO's thumb drifted over Ryou's nipple, making the man's skin heat slightly with desire.

Seto's hand drifted lower and rubbed Ryou's flat stomach.

The hikari kissed Seto's ear and returned the gentle nibbling on his neck. His hand went to Seto's leg and began rubbing the thigh, and eventually rubbing the inner thigh.

Seto pulled back, nearly breathless, his face flushed with desire. “Maybe we should get home before this goes any further.”

Ryou nodded. “I agree. Besides, there's too many eyes around.”

Seto kissed Ryou's forehead again. “I meant what I said, Ry. I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it.”

“I know,” Ryou said, smiling at him.

***********************

 

Marik waited outside the store, leaning against the building. He tapped his fingers against his arms impatiently.

He looked down at the ground, thinking of Bakura's confessions at the morgue. `Itemri longs for death. He's never told me about this before. I thought he was content being what he is. If Itemri does find a way to die permanently, I'll be alone.'

Bakura emerged from the store's window and held a bottle of wine in his hand. “I left a nice thank you note for the owner.”

“What did you grab?”

Bakura showed the bottle to Marik and grinned. “Nothing but the finest. Let's go to the woods. Nobody will bother us there. Besides, I'm tired of hanging out at home. It'll be just like the old days.”
Marik and Bakura walked to the park.

“How are you holding up, Marik?”

Marik shrugged. “I'm still in shock. I still can't believe it happened. Aten….”

“It's understandable.”

Marik crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I'm still numb. Do you think we did the right thing performing the ritual?”

“You wanted to do it. It's a little late to go back and put the brain back into his skull. I don't think we did a bad thing, Ishtar. Aten will be able to enter the underworld with a clean soul. That's what we both want, right?”

Marik nodded. “Yes.”

“And we found out how he died. That leaves a lot of questions answered. It makes me feel better knowing what killed him.”

“Could it have been prevented?”

Bakura shrugged. “Aten was on the best of medications and had the best of doctors. I doubt it. Just be glad he lived to be eighteen and not eight.”

Marik sighed. “Very true.”

“I don't think I want to do the ritual for Aria. I'll only do it if she wishes me to do it. Aten told us he wanted the ritual performed. I'll leave it up to her.”

Marik looked up into the sky. “Aten, I hope I have done what's right for you.”

Bakura took Marik's hand. “You're a good father, Marik. You always were a good father. You did your duty tonight. It was difficult, but I know that you have done him right.”

“Thank you, Itemri.”

The white-haired yami lead Marik into the woods near a little stream. They sat on the ground and opened the bottle of wine.

Marik guzzled from the bottle and handed it to Bakura. “Here.”

“Thanks, partner.” Bakura grabbed the bottle and drank thirstily. “Rituals always make you thirsty.”

Marik chuckled. “It is hard work.”

Bakura held the bottle in his hand and looked up at the stars. “They are very beautiful tonight.”

“Yes, they are. Do you think Aten made it through to the Underworld?”

Bakura shook his head. “You remember the journey, don't you? It takes three days and Aten hasn't been dead for three days. Tomorrow is the last day of his travel. That is, if he has remembered the incantations to pass the tests of the gods.”

“Knowing Aten, he made sure to be able to recite them by memory. He was always diligent in his religious duties.”

Bakura rested against a tree trunk. “Survival was my priority, not religious practices.”

“After Amunet's death, I wondered why the gods had allowed her and her people to be slaughtered. Suddenly, Ra didn't seem that important. The gods became my enemy for a very long time.”

Bakura drank again from the bottle and put his arm around Marik's shoulders. “I had wondered the same as I saw Yami's father slaughter the poorest of the poor. He killed them for sport and I saw the injustices in the Nobility. Yami's father ordered his men to burn me alive, but I escaped his guards before they could grab me.”

Marik turned to Bakura and caressed Bakura's cheek. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. I learned to be self-reliant. No father would protect me and no mother would nurture me. I had to nurture myself.”

“Why were you so concerned with my safety in the desert that night?”

Bakura leaned against Marik. “I remembered you a little. I wasn't sure if you were the boy who helped me by the Nile or not. If you weren't, I will be honest. I was planning on killing you and grabbing your stuff. You had some nice bread that tasted good.”

Marik chuckled. “It's good for me I helped you, then.”

“You were fortunate. Very few people have ever helped me.”

Marik kissed the top of Bakura's head. “I'm lucky, then.”

Bakura nuzzled his cheek against Marik's shoulder. “We're both lucky. We have found each other again and we have two wonderful husbands.”

Marik drank from the bottle of wine again and hiccupped. “This is good stuff, Itemri.”

“I only steal the best.”

Marik and Bakura chuckled.

Bakura sipped from the bottle and snuggled against his partner. “Do you think we'll perform this ritual on our hikaris?”

Marik shrugged. “I think I will. I'm not thinking that far ahead yet.”

“I'm not thinking at all at the moment. This wine tastes too good,” Bakura chuckled.

Marik sipped from the bottle and tipped Bakura's head up. He kissed the other yami, slipping some of the wine into his lover's mouth.

Bakura swallowed the wine and continued the kiss. He slipped his hands under Marik's shirt and moaned into the kiss. His fingers brushed over Marik's left nipple, making the blond whimper into the kiss.

Bakura broke the kiss to swig from the bottle. He returned to the kiss, sharing the wine with the blond through the kiss.

Marik caressed Bakura's cheek as they kissed deeply. He touched the skin lightly, tenderly brushing it with his hand.

The two yamis held each other close as they shared their wine-flavored kiss. Marik moved his hand to the back of Bakura's head, cradling it as he kissed his partner onto the woodland ground.

“Ow!” Bakura cried out. “I think I'm laying on a rock!”

Marik reached under Bakura and threw away a pointy rock. He laid Bakura back onto the grass. “Better?”

“Immensely,” Bakura grinned as he pulled his partner on top of him.

Marik grabbed the bottle and chuckled as he took more of the intoxicant into his mouth. He kissed Bakura on the lips, sharing the wine again.

Bakura licked his lips. “I think the wine's starting to kick in,” the yami giggled.

“I think so,” Marik moaned as he began sucking on the side of Bakura's neck.

The yami turned his head to the side to allow his lover all the access he needed. He squinted his eyes and saw a light in the distance.

“Ishtar, I see something.”

Marik moaned, grinding against Bakura. “I see something, too…..someone in need of some good woodland sex.”

“No, no! Not woodland sex!” Bakura gasped as Marik began touching between his legs. “I think I hear voices approaching!”

Marik grinding against Bakura. “Let them watch.”

Bakura pushed Marik off of him and jumped to his feet. “Grab the backpack! Hide!”

Bakura pulled Marik behind a bush as he heard the footsteps approach. The two yamis ducked behind the foliage as three figures passed by.

“How many do you think we'll get tonight?” a surprisingly high-pitched male voice asked.

“Who knows,” said a young girl. “Hopefully, we get something.”

The third figure stopped and turned to the others. “Even if we get one queer, it's worth it.”

“You're right, Eric.”

Marik's eyes narrowed. That boy had always bullied Aten. He had tormented Aten all his life….and this boy still lived while his son had suffered death.

“I'm gonna kill him myself!” Marik snarled quietly.

“No, No! Let's follow them,” Bakura said quickly, holding Marik's arm.

Eric and his posse walked towards the light in the distance.

“We might get a better idea of what they are up to if we follow them.”

Marik narrowed his eyes. “That little piece of shit tormented my son!”

“His father is the Chief of Police, Ishtar. That piece of shit is responsible for murdering people in cold blood. My people are getting slaughtered because of this little fucker. I want to be able to prove that he and his father are dirty. Trust me on this. Follow me…and don't drop the wine. We'll need that.”

Bakura and Marik followed Eric and his friends, stealthily sneaking around. Bakura felt his spine quiver at the scream coming from the woods.

“What is going on here?” Bakura asked himself as they approached the light.

A crowd of people were gathered around a fire. Men and women leaned against the trees, sat on fallen logs, while some had provided their own chairs.

Bakura and Marik hid behind a bush in the shadows looking at the crowd. Sgt. Barnes greeted his son and his friends as they arrived.

Marik saw a kneeling figure with a hood over his head. His hands were tied behind his back and his body was quivering intensely. Another figure was also bound, but the shadows hid his face.

Bakura shook his head as his vision blurred from the wine. The figures were fading in and out as he tried to focus.

“What do you think is going on, Itemri?”

Bakura held back a giggle. “I don't know, but it looks like trouble.”

Marik sipped from the bottle and suppressed a hiccup. “I think I….umm….have to agree.”

“Attention, everyone!” Sgt. Barnes said as he held up his hands. “The Crusaders have been doing wonderful things! We have done our community a favor by eliminating these homosexuals! Tonight, we have two more to eradicate thanks to Rhonda Taylor!”

Rhonda smiled as she sat beside her boyfriend, who had put his arm around her waist.

“We would also like to congratulate my son and Ms. Rhonda for soon they will be adding to our glorious brigade! Rhonda is pregnant and will soon add to our illustrious army!”

The crowd cheered and clapped.

“Hopefully this one isn't retarded!” Rhonda exclaimed.

“Do you know what corrupted your baby, Rhonda? GAYS! QUEERS! Their existence corrupted that baby's body making it twisted and deformed! The only way we can assure that your baby is born correctly is to eliminate these two men for the sinful crime of sodomy!”

The crowd booed and screamed insults at the two bound men.

Bakura wavered as he kneeled on the grass. “I'm not as drunk as you think I am.” The yami quietly giggled, grabbing the bottle and gulping more wine.

“Gimme that bottle,” Marik whispered, grabbing it from Bakura. The blond gulped more and snickered. “Of all the things I miss, I miss my mind the most.”

Bakura hiccupped quietly and giggled. “We…..umm….have to…..uhhh…be quiet….and stuff. Shh.”

“Tonight, we will assure that these men do not have another opportunity to corrupt another child!”

“I never hurt a child!” a familiar voice protested from under the hood.

“Itemri…you….umm….know that voice?”

Bakura focused his eyes on the figure, but the man had melted into a blurry haze. “Not at the moment. No. I too think to drunk.”

“I've never done anything wrong! Rhonda, tell them!” yelled the other man.

Rhonda grinned at the bound man beside the fire. “He touched me, alright! My uncle's the reason why my baby was born retarded! His gayness was too much for my baby to handle!”

Marik leaned against Bakura. “Isn't he….umm….I don't remember him, but he looks familiar.”

Bakura snickered. “I wonder if the one with a bag on his head is making funny faces.”

Marik giggled quietly. “I would be doing that. I'd be sticking my tongue out at them and crossing my eyes.”

“Lord, we hope that these sacrifices tonight please you! We know that we are doing your good work here on earth! Tonight, may these evil sinners pay for their crimes in blood!”

The crowd roared with cheering and clapping.

Bakura breathed deeply, feeling the excitement and terror within the crowd. “Do you think he wears boxers or thongs, Marik?”

Marik covered his mouth to hide his snickering. “I think he likes it in the pooper. He's just in denial.”

“Let the sacrifice begin!”

“TRISTAN!” a voice called from underneath the hood.

Marik snapped his fingers. “That's the name….umm….where did I hear that before?”

Bakura looked at the large axe that was suddenly grabbed by a man wearing a black cape. “Hey, that's a good blade! I wonder where they got that. I want one.”

Marik watched as they grabbed the hooded figure and bent him over to rest his head on a flat stump. “I think they're gonna cut off the hood.”

Bakura could feel the terror coming from the shaking, hooded figure. He rubbed his chest and gave his nipple a pinch. “This is sexy.”

Marik watched as the bound man as brought in front of them. “Down get,” Marik whispered, pushing Itemri onto the ground.

“You why that do?” Bakura asked as the figure was bound between two trees in front of them. His legs were bound, spread-eagle.

“We can't be seen,” Marik whispered.

Bakura kneeled as the two men walked back to the crowd.

“Please don't kill me! I've never done anything bad, I swear! Rhonda! Tell them! Please! I don't want to die!” the hooded figure pleaded.

Rhonda grinned. “Make sure you don't get it right the first time.”

The executioner nodded to her.

“Rhonda! Stop this! Kill me instead!”

Eric grinned. “That's the idea anyway, Uncle Tristan. You'll have to wait your turn. Your loverboy gets the ax first.”

“NO, PLEASE! Don't kill him!”

Bakura and Marik watched the hooded figure tremble and pant heavily as his heart raced in its final moments of life.

The executioner placed the blade of the ax against the back of the figure's neck. He lifted the ax….

“PLEASE DON'T!” the figure cried out loudly. “PLEASE DON'T---!”

The ax of the executioner cut into the figure's neck, severing it half-way. The blood splattered upon the ground and the tree stump. The half-severed head continued to scream as the arteries gushed red blood. The body twitched and trembled extremely bad as the head gurgled with a strangled cry.

“OTOGI! NO!” Tristan cried out.

The crowd cheered and Rhonda laughed as the neck was half-severed. The dying body of Otogi squealed and twitched as it gushed blood.

The executioner lifted his ax.

“Please don't!” Tristan cried out in sorrow.

The blade chopped into the remaining tissues, severing Otogi's head violently and completely. Sgt. Barnes walked over to Otogi's fallen head and lifted it up for all to see.

“THIS IS WHAT ALL GAYS DESERVE!”

The crowd cheered and clapped wildly as the eyes of the head slowly stopped moving.

Bakura inhaled deeply, the smell of blood and fear wafting around him. He reached between his legs and began to rub as Otogi's body fell twitching on the ground. Blood flowed from the body in a river.

Marik looked at Bakura massaging himself and grinned. “That's sexy.”

Bakura moaned at the intoxicating aroma of blood and fear. The wine simply added to his increasing bloodlust.

Marik turned towards the crowd and saw Sgt. Barnes flip Otogi's body over. He grabbed a knife and castrated the corpse. Blood streamed from the base of Otogi's genitals.

Barnes approached Tristan with a grin and with Otogi's head. He held up the severed head to Tristan's face. “Do you wish to give your boyfriend one last kiss before you die?”

Tristan tugged at his bonds wildly. “Somebody help me! Please!”

Barnes chuckled. “Nobody will hear you, faggot. Give him a kiss. He's just had a very hard night.”

Rhonda laughed as Barnes swung the head in front of Tristan enticingly. “Kiss him, Uncle Tristan! After all, he just lost his head and his cock!”

Barnes stepped back and dropped Otogi's head into the fire. The head began to burn, sending the smell of burned flesh around the camp…and straight to Bakura and Marik.

Bakura reached into his pants and stroked himself as he watched the flesh melt and burn off of Otogi's head. The eyeballs melted with the extreme heat, toasting in their sockets.

The flesh blackened as the flames consumed it.

Marik's hand went to his nipples, pinching them as the smell of smoldering flesh flooded his nose.

Barnes approached Tristan again with Otogi's penis in hand. “You want this, don't you? His dead cock in your ass?”

Tristan swallowed hard and shook his head. “No, please!”

Barnes turned to Rhonda. “Would you like to repay him for corrupting your child?”

Rhonda smiled and turned to Eric. “I'd like the father of my baby to do it.”

Eric stood up and kissed his girlfriend on the lips. “My pleasure.”

Eric approached Tristan and grabbed the severed penis from his father. He brushed it lightly against Tristan's cheek. “Do you want to kiss this, too?”

The crowd began to laugh wildly.

Tristan tried to turn his head away from the arousal until Barnes grabbed Tristan's hair tightly.

“Suck it, Taylor.”

Tristan kept his mouth shut tight as the penis was rubbing his lips.

Eric stamped on Tristan's foot hard and the man opened his mouth. Barnes shoved the severed member into Tristan's mouth.

The crowd laughed and snickered.

“It's no different than what you did to that body in its life, Tristan. Why is it so different now?”

Tristan couldn't answer around the flesh shoved into his mouth.

Eric took the flesh from his father and shoved it deeper into Tristan's mouth, making the man gag. “I thought you fags loved doing this!”

Tristan's eyes went to the dead body of Otogi and a tear fell from his eye.

The executioner moved Otogi's body into the light of the fire. Tristan's eyes fell on the naked body that he had adored. He loved Otogi, but now Otogi was dead.

Eric removed the flesh from Tristan's mouth and laughed. “Are you enjoying yourself, Tris? I hope so, because it's going to get even better.”

Eric moved behind Tristan and quickly shoved the severed penis up Tristan's entrance. Tris cried out in pain as his body bled.

“Bleed for me, Tris!” Eric laughed. “That's it, you little man-whore!”

Rhonda clapped and pointed at Tristan. “Take that, Uncle!”

Marik shifted close to Bakura and slipped his hand into the front of Bakura's pants, helping the yami stroke himself.

Bakura drank from the bottle of wine and moaned. “So much blood….”

Blood trickled down Tris' legs as his body quivered in pain.

“Please stop!” Tristan begged.

“We'll stop when you're ready,” Barnes said, grinning.

The executioner cut the rope holding Otogi's arms behind his back. He extended Otogi's right arm before rigor mortis could set in. The skin was cold and was slowly becoming stiff.

He chopped off Otogi's right hand and threw the appendage to Barnes.

Barnes smiled at Tristan and used the hand to touch Tristan's arousal. “You like this?”

Tristan whimpered as his arousal began weeping. He struggled to fight it, but his body was betraying him.

He tried to hold back, trying not to rub himself against the severed hand of his lover.

The new addition to the scent of blood flooded Bakura and Marik's minds.

Bakura thrust into his hand and Marik's, biting his lip to avoid moaning.

Tristan sobbed as his body became hard under the touch of Otogi's hand and the severed arousal being shoved into his body roughly.

Barnes grinned as he watched Tristan's arousal stiffen. “Do all of you see this? This pervert is becoming aroused! He must love fucking a dead body! That is not the only thing these gays like to screw!”

Tristan's body was covered in sweat as he tried to fight the inevitable. His body tightened, trying to fight back the sensations running through his mind.

Marik's teeth bit down on the side of Bakura's shoulder hard as he growled possessively.

“Mine,” the blond snarled, sinking his teeth into Bakura's flesh.

Tristan grit his teeth as he released hard into the severed hand.

Bakura whimpered as he smelled the aroma of sex in the air. He gripped onto Marik tightly and released hard.

Barnes grinned and stepped back, throwing Otogi's hand into the fire. He pulled a gun from a holster on his hip and cocked the pistol.

Eric left Tristan and walked to his girlfriend, smiling. “Now comes the good part, sexy girl.”

Rhonda crossed her arms in front of her and smiled proudly. “Nice knowing you, Uncle Tristan.”

Several other members removed guns ranging from pistols to shotguns to semi-automatic weaponry.

Marik heard the cocking of the guns and removed his mouth from Bakura's shoulder. He turned around and saw the guns pointed at Tristan.

“Oh shit,” Marik growled, gripping onto Bakura.

Barnes smiled. “Goodbye, faggot.”

Barnes fired his pistol at Tristan's head, hitting him between the eyes. The other members fired their guns at Tristan, whose body jerked with each bullet penetrating his body.

Marik let out a yelp and collapsed on top of Bakura.

“Fuck! Ishtar! Where were you hit?!”

Bakura felt a trickle of blood wet his shoulder. “Ishtar, are you awake?!”

“Holy fucking shit!” Marik screamed. “They fucking shot me in the shoulder!”

Bakura looked up and saw a mass of Tristan's scalp hanging from his head. Bakura heard something fall beside him and realized it was a piece of Tristan's brain.

“We'd better get the hell out of here before they decide to use us for target practice, too!”

Bakura pushed Marik off of him and helped the blond stagger behind a tree for shelter from the piercing bullets. Marik held his shoulder and winced. “Mother fucking hell this hurts!”

Bakura took Marik's hand. “Let's go, come on!”

The white-haired yami lead Marik through the woods towards the edge of the forest. Bakura examined Marik's injury in the moonlight and licked his blood-thirsty lips. “We'll take care of this at home. We'd better get going before they realized they had witnesses.”

Marik traced his finger over the injury and licked the finger clean of blood. “Delicious.”

Bakura and Marik raced home and closed the door behind them. Bakura locked the door as Marik renewed his bite on Bakura's shoulder.

“You're mine, Itemri……all mine,” the blond said with a devilish grin.

 

Updates: 3/27