Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Rewind 1 ❯ The Village of the Dead ( Chapter 16 )

OMG, guys, I'm so sorry!!!! Really, I am!!! I didn't mean to pause my updating for SSOO long!! Honestly -puts her hand over her heart and pouts- please don't hate me. It's been over 2 months since last I updated, and now I'm sure no one will want to read the rest of my story. Everyone's probably given up on me---sniff sniff…

 

I noticed that people who don't like YAOI have read this story and liked it. Well, for all of those reviewers I especially appreciate, I promise you that once I'm done with this story, I'll post another one with the same title, only NON-YAOI. So please, be patient with me and grit your teeth while reading YAOI!! I promise it'll be worth it in the end.

 

 

Special thanks to everyone that reviewed.

 

 

V son sayian, thanks for sticking with the story.

 

Tramontana, have fun in Italy!!! What else can I say?Only that I'll send Marik to give you a thousand kisses. Is that okay?

 

Gelap Gelita, your review literally MADE MY DAY!! Luv ya! I'm sorry you don't like yaoi, but I hope you stick with m until the end!! Seriously though, I adored your review!! You live in Gt.Britain!? Wow, I've been there, like, a hundred times (my aunt lives there)

 

 

Uber-Rei model, thankyou for EVERYTHING you have EVER said for me. I know you must hate me by now for not updating Nemesis, but I assure you I haven't forgotten. I really hate myselffor not updating, but I love you for reviewing none the less.

 

Anime-fan-Meepa: I'm so sorry if I really made you cry in the previous chapter, but I'm sure this time you'll be less emotional! I LOVED your review!!(I love long reviews, in general, even if people just digress!!) Every time you review, I'm, like cackling on my seat, reading it over and over again from beginning to end!!!! Plz don't forget me!!

 

 

Rapturous voice,

 

Anubia,

 

Aseria,

 

Lily of the Shadow….

 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! HONESTLY!!! Even if you hate me and never review again, due to my late updates, I'll still love you for your good words.

 

 

 

 

 

Whether it was Mai's anxious warnings that going to the upper levels meant serious trouble, or the ominous instinct that made butterflies fly in his gut, Marik didn't know. What he did know, however, was that he suddenly, unexpectedly, unpleasantly felt unusually iffy, glancing nervously to his side, where Serena was walking steadily, looking forward.

 

Marik pulled his eyes back to the ground and once again let his handsome features form that skeptical frown. The butterflies in his stomach were now soaring. The frenzied fright almost hurt him.

 

But it was no use being scared and trying not to show it, since it was now too late. Even though all of them were officially terrified, they couldn't back out now- not when they were half-way there. After getting directions from Mai about where the access to the upper-levels was and how they could use their cards- things that Serenity didn't know- Marik, Ryou, Serenity, Yugi and Tea had started their quest for answers, leaving their other friends behind.

 

First they'd had to enter the upper levels of the city, where the crème-de-la-crème of the decadent earthian society lived. Following Mai's directions, it had been fairly easy: turn right here, take a lift there, watch out for a CyberCop there and voila! The gates to the “B level”- the level where top executives live…including Ishrat. They had encountered no serious problems until now, except maybe the consistent feeling of being a fish out of the water. But now…now that they had actually reached the B level…now they felt really nervous.

 

People- apparently rich people- walked around dressed as gothic deranged lunatics. In the streets, men and women could be seen drinking, smoking, laughing, injecting themselves with who knows what, and, evidently, inducing themselves with every kind of orgy imaginable.

 

Marik was a big boy by now. He could handle situations like this. He'd had the talk about the birds and the bees already…hell, most of the time, he even used seduction to his advantage…but this!? This was another story- totally out of proportion. This was like some prank gone awry, as if one enters another world all together, where night clubs are everywhere in the thick horizon and brothel interiors lie in common view.

 

Is this where the elite executives lived? Could there be actual houses in this level, apart from chaotic crowds, robot-prostitutes, goth-clad vampire wannabes and every other disgusting junkie the human mind can ever conjure?! So this was rich life…Way to go.

 

Marik suspected he looked ridiculous in his incognito suit. Apparently, in this notorious “B level”, in order to pass as “normal” one had to look flamboyant. Marik had never in his wildest dreams fathomed that he would deliberately dress up as a punk manslut in order to pass unnoticed. At least he drew some comfort from the fact that all his friends were dressed in a similar way. Serenity, especially, looked ridiculous in her shiny pleather pants, stiletto high boots and red, asphyxiating tank top. Marik also noticed the leather leash added to her belt as an accessory. God, was that awful! It was like seeing a cat with the ears of a rabbit.

 

Not to mention Ryou and Yugi, equally uncomfortable, who were dressed up as though preparing to attend a satanistic blood ritual. Blood rituals. Ha! Good one, Marik. Bakura had probably already attended a fair share of those in the past.

 

And speaking of Bakura, Marik was happy to finally be able to focus on something other than the albino spirit for a change. Due to extreme fatigue, Bakura was apparently lethargically resting in Ryou's ring. On the one hand, Marik regretted not hearing the dozens of sarcastic remarks Bakura would surely have to provide for this place; but on the other hand, the tanned man didn't really want to see Bakura after he'd settled in his mind what all these feelings meant and why he was so confused.

 

“Just stay close…don't fall apart” Marik warned silently, but realized that it was highly unlikely that any of their party get lost, since they all seemed to be sticking to each other like leeches, Marik included. Marik inwardly laughed, noticing Tea's absolutely horrified face and Yugi's attempts at placating her, but failing miserably, since he was also scared out of his wits. And it showed.

 

Marik quickly scanned the area while trying to confidently saunter forwards, in order not to raise suspicion. He was looking for someone even remotely logical-looking in order to ask for directions to Ishrat's home, when he suddenly heard something from behind him.

 

“Hey babe, wanna roll?” some greasy, red-haired punk was leering at Serenity, trying to grab the curviest parts of her anatomy. For a moment, Marik thought he should interfere and be the knight in the shining armor, but then he noticed the paranoid gleam in Ryou's eyes and thought better of it.

 

“Excuse me, sir” the classical gentleman Ryou asked “but would you please decease your socializing with the lady?”

 

“What the heck!?” the guy predictably answered, apparently further vexing Ryou “ I ailn't deceasing shit, you punkass bitch! If you wanna decease I suggest you stick that pole even further up your…”

 

“GENTLEMEN!!!!” Marik rudely interrupted, not very keen on listening to two obviously not very grown men take a go at each other “please…I'm sure my friend meant no harm.” Marik quickly added with a raised hand and turned to leave, signaling to the others to follow, when something the redhead goth said made him stop dead in his tracks.

 

“Ishrat? What the hell are you doin' here?” the suddenly submissive yet sufficiently annoying red-haired brat asked.

 

Marik froze, causing the ones behind him to also stop. All of them turned around simultaneously.

 

“What did you call me?” Marik questioned dumbfounded, partially not believing the frenzied voices that were screaming in his head `What is going on!?!??!'

 

The redhead raised an eyebrow “What, now you're deaf as well as color-blind? Haven't I told ya you should paint your head red, you old fool?”

 

“Kinda like you, for example?” Tea couldn't help but let slip. When the punk glared at her, she shrunk back and seemed to think better of it.

 

“Is there something you're not telling us?” Dark Yugi suddenly turned to Marik with a full-fledged Game King super glare.

 

Now Marik shook his head frantically and finally registered what the voices in his head were saying: they were warning signals of being suspected by his friends…He quickly turned to the red-haired stranger and asked him who he was.

 

“Are you kiddin' me?” the punk shot at the tanned youngster “I thought even you would be smarter than that! So tell me, how did you do it?”

 

Marik was getting increasingly frustrated with all his questions being left unanswered. Extremely conscious of his friends' suspicious looks, he focused on getting the best out of the situation.

 

“How did I do what?” Marik questioned with narrowed eyes. The punk waved a hand around as though to casually dismiss him.

 

“Aw, stop fucking around with me, maaaan….” The guy protested loudly “You know damn well what…The dope…”

 

At this, Marik's eyes almost shot out of their sockets. “The WHAT?” he dumbly asked, in a manner increasingly unlike his usual.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you, tonight, Ishrat!?” the punk retaliated, frustrated “How could you forget it, when you're the one who called me on the first place `Be my dealer, Saif, and I'll get you your A level card'!! Isn't that what you said? Huh? Huh?”

 

The situation slowly but steadily started to dawn on Marik. Apparently, he looked a lot like this Ishrat guy, since this Saif was mistaking him for Ishrat. With the engines of his mind working overload, Marik selected the best possible solution to a situation like this. He shoved his hands in his pockets, took on a relaxed pose and started laughing loudly at Saif's scowling face. When he was finished with his obnoxious barking, he turned and said:

 

“I was…hahaha!! I was just fucking with you man…” he wiped nonexistent tears of laughter from his eyes “Fall for it every time!” he took a wild guess.

 

Saif's eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment, then widened again as he grinned lightly and took a drag out of his cigarette “Tsk. You sure are in a mood for screwing around, ailn't ya?” he blew away the smoke and pointedly ignored all of Marik's friends, who were staring with a betrayed look at Marik. Honestly, is this how much they trusted him? Even Ryou and Serena?!

 

“So. About the dope.” Saif casually reminded.

 

Acting nonchalant, Marik found his perfect little chance “Sure. I have it. It's in my place.”

 

Saif sighed heavily and frowned “In your place?” he complained “What the heck is the dope doing in your place, Ishrat? The action's on for tonight.”

 

Marik, again acting cool, walked around Saif and assumed what he thought would be an appropriate move. Namely, he lightly slapped Saif's cheek “Chill, dude.” He said and walked around the redhead. Ryou was slowly starting to change his mind about Marik's betrayal.

 

“Just take me to my place and we'll exchange there…never choose the same dealing spot twice, right?” Marik ingeniously asked.

 

Saif narrowed his eyes “Why does it have to be your place?” he asked “You know this business- never give addresses and specific numbers…Now what the fuck is going on? You trying to set me up, Ishrat?” he inquired in an alarmingly menacing tone “And what's with this posse? Never seen them around here before…”

 

Marik shook his head mock-dismissively “Lighten up, man…I just need a set of turbo wheels to get me to my place, that's all. I'll give you what we bargained for…As for these guys…you know what I want them for.” Now if that wasn't a wild guess, Marik had never taken one. He assumed, however that his above statement could be taken as an insinuation of a group-orgy or something. After all, this place was sick.

 

“Whatever.” Saif said, scowling and then threw his spent cigarette away “Just don't try to fuck with me, Ishrat” he pointed a finger right in front of Marik's nose “Or I'll turn that pretty face of yours into dog crap before you know what hit ya.”

 

“I'd like to see you try, punk.” Was heard the unmistakable sneaky baritone, and Marik prayed to all deities known that Bakura was invisible and that only he could hear him, not Saif. That was thankfully the case, since Saif just gave a last threatening look at Marik, as though to let his former statement sink in. He completely ignored Bakura's words and walked away, saying “My hover' s this way. C'mon, I haven't got all god-damn night.”

 

When Marik turned and saw the semi-translucent floating Bakura spirit hovering in front of Yugi, he made the universally familiar death gesture by sliding an index finger across his throat.

 

`I'll kill you' he mouthed to a hysterically grinning Bakura.

 

“Too late for that“ the Dark spirit smirked, making both Ryou and Game King Yugi roll their eyes. Tea and Serenity, who now knew of the existence of the spirits, thought it better not to question the strange behaviors.

 

As the group started inconspicuously walking after Saif to the hover that would take them to their answers, the Game King floated out of Yugi's body and next to an equally floating Bakura.

 

“Honestly, you underhanded barbarian; is there no situation where you can't simply shut your mouth?” the Game royalty remarked, irritated.

 

Ryou and Marik rolled their eyes when they saw Bakura stick his nose so high in the air that his head looked precarious on his neck. What a stereotyped snobbish stance. “At least I was taught to speak my mind and not shove it all in like a constipated bull that only wakes up when he hears his name.”

 

“Why you…”the Game King looked vicious.

 

“Excuse me” Bakura stopped in his tracks “but who's the barbarian now? Brightside!!” Bakura shouted, in mock-fright “Alas, Brightside! Save me Ryou, from this dimwitted sniveling slug, bent on proving to me how much of a non-man he is! Oh, the woe! The horror!!”

 

Marik was about to start laughing, if not for Bakura's comments than simply because of Dark Yugi's fury-distorted face. But it was not meant to be, since that was the time Saif turned back to them.

 

“This is it.” He said, proudly presenting a shiny, possibly stolen, big red pod. “Hop in. You'll have to tell me the directions, since I don't know the way to your place.”

 

Bakura immediately stopped kidding around, and turned to the now pale-faced Marik. The tanned boy stood, flabbergasted, unbelieving at how he'd managed to forget that little crucial detail. How would he know the directions to Ishrat's home, if he wasn't Ishrat? He had simply supposed Saif already knew where Ishrat lived and he would take them there.

 

Trying not to show his inner peril, Marik turned a smartly concealed desperate gaze at Bakura, who met his eyes with his put-off expression. Marik started inwardly denying the notion that he was actually looking at Bakura for help. Is that how good of a leader he was? Nobody trusted him and he didn't know what to do without Bakura's help?? Great.

 

“Are you just gonna keep staring at me, or will you get in? Listen, man, I like you and all, but this is getting weird. If you try to set me up, I swear I'll…” Saif started saying, shaking Marik out of his alarmed staring at Bakura.

 

Marik, utterly annoyed with himself for questioning his self-esteem at a time like this, plastered an annoyed look on his face and started acting confident, knowing it would get him out of the shitty situation, as usual.

 

“You know you talk to much?” he derisively sneered at Saif and casually sauntered forwards, into the hovercraft “Com'on you guys.” He casually told the others, not even waiting for Saif answer and ignoring him completely.

 

With suspicious and slightly alarmed looks, his friends slowly entered the machine. Ryou jumped in first and reached for Serena, who let him lift her in by the waist. She shakily smiled at him as he let her sit on his lap, in the effort to fit in the small seats. At Tea's prolonged staring at the hovercraft, Saif rolled his eyes.

 

“You guys really aren't from around here, are you?” the punk asked Ryou with a look that was a bit too suspicious for Marik's taste.

 

“Lose the tongue and get on, will ya?” Marik said in a fake gangster- tone. Perhaps he had hung out with Kith a bit too much…

 

Saif did as he was told and got in the hover, settling next to Marik, at the driver's seat. As Saif started the engine, Marik suddenly realized he couldn't see Bakura floating anywhere around. Oh well…Bakura must have just returned to the ring without Marik noticing then…

 

“So, where to?” Saif asked, somewhat lazily, as he drove into the chaos of the hellish city.

 

`That's exactly what I'd like to know' Marik unpleasantly thought. He belatedly realized that he didn't know any landscape names on Earth. How the heck would he `lead' Saif?? For now, Marik thought he'd settle on the easy solution.

 

“Just go straight. I'll tell you when to turn.” Marik casually said. Saif seemed satisfied enough with that answer. For now. Marik was all too aware that he would have to tell Saif where to turn sometime soon. Problem was, he had no idea what he was doing.

 

Looking back nervously towards his friends, he saw Yugi and Tea huddled next to Ryou and Serenity. They were all looking at him with alarmed gazes, as though egging him to do something. If only he knew what.

 

He realized that he would have to give Saif concrete directions sometime soon, since the man seemed to be getting more suspicious by the moment. What had he gotten himself into, Marik wondered. He had to get them out of there, fast.

 

“HEY! Ryou, what's wrong with you?!” was heard the unmistakable chime of Serenity's protest. Marik and Saif turned backwards simultaneously, only to meet the sight of a homicidal-looking Ryou trying to push his girl off his lap.

 

“What the-?” Saif started saying, but didn't get a chance to finish his comment, since the blood-eyed and vastly paranoid `Ryou' had already grabbed his chin, forcing it backwards and making the redhead let go of the steering wheel abruptly.

 

“Ryou!!! What are you doing?!” Serenity started screaming. Marik honestly wanted to hit her at that point. As if she didn't know of Bakura's existence.

 

“You're going to get us killed, you idiot!!” Dark Yugi barked, fruitlessly trying to prevent Bakura.

 

“Let him go!!!” Tea screamed in a frightened tone.

 

Marik finally focused on the fact that their hover was now spiraling out of control, since Saif was too preoccupied to drive it.

 

“Grab the wheel!!” Bakura shouted, struggling to immobilize a wildly writhing Saif. Marik lunged for the steering wheel, roughly pulling it right, managing to divert the hover before it hit a building wall.

 

“Fuck!!!” Marik shouted, trying to hold the wheel steady over Saif's flailing legs “Bakura!! Do something!!!” he roared over everyone's frenzied cries.

 

“I'm trying!!” Bakura's slightly muffled voice came from the back, accompanied by various punching noises.

 

“RYOU!!” Serenity suddenly screamed in a terrorized tone, and Marik distractedly turned towards the back in order to see what was happening. Apparently, Saif had managed to jam the ball of his palm up Bakura's chin. Marik was too preoccupied by checking out if his friend was all right that he didn't know what hit him when Saif brought his fist against his nose, forcing him away and dislodging his hands from the wheel.

 

“Argh!!” Marik cried, feeling the elegant bridge of his nose being pulverized beneath the redhead's punch. Unable to stop the blinding pain from spreading, Marik brought both hands to his face and tried to cradle his nose, vaguely aware of his friends' screaming.

 

“I knew there was summat wrong with you! You're not Ishrat!!” Saif barked the understatement of the century at Marik as he quickly took control of the car, which had already started moving precariously.

 

“Nobody fucks with me, you hear that!? HUH!? Nobody!!”” Saif shouted at Marik, who could now taste blood in his mouth, from the rivers sliding down his chin.

 

“AARGH!!!” Saif suddenly screamed and Marik watched, flabbergasted, as a silver whirpool practically shot out from the backseat, jumping over Saif's seat and straddling the driver. Saif lost his visual field and let go of the steering wheel, making the car roll uncontrollably in unbelievable speed.

 

Bakura had straddled Saif and was apparently squeezing the punk's throat in a way that looked very uncomfortable.“AAAAAHHH!!!” Serenity screamed at the top of her lungs and Marik realized it was because of the fall their car was performing. Fighting to ignore the pain on his face, Marik grabbed the lever next to the driver's seat and used all his strength to pull the car up again. The girls were screaming so loud at the back that Marik couldn't even hear his own thoughts for a moment. He started swinging the wheel back and forth, in an attempt to evade the hovers around them. Yugi was shouting at him—Marik didn't even know what he was doing anymore.

 

“You're wrong…” Marik heard Bakura mutter over the panic in a voice that he recognized as the most homicidal tone he had heard from Bakura yet. The albino, blood gurgling freely from his mouth, staining the prefect porcelain skin…he narrowed his eyes, as red and vicious as the blood flowing down his throat “Nobody fucks with me.”

 

And with those words, Bakura held his death grip on terrified Saif's throat, raising his other hand in the air as a fist.

 

“Puny Mortal” the spirit sneered as he positively crushed Saif's face with his hit, retching a cry out of the redhaired man. Marik, who was too preoccupied with the car to see what was happening behind him, turned around just in time to see Saif raise his knee roughly, landing a solid kick on Bakura's crotch area.

 

“Argh!!” Bakura lost his balance for a few moments and Saif got the chance to through him off, forcing him to slam against the side of the vehicle.

 

“Bakura!!” Marik shouted anxiously, but had no time to watch the fighting match, since he had to refocus on driving.

 

“Nobody touches me and gets away with it!” Bakura roared after a brief pause. And with these words, an enraged Bakura swung his hand against Saif, grabbing the redhead's hair and tugging on it sadistically, earning a satisfying mewl of protest.

 

Baring his teeth like a caged animal, Bakura positively pounced on Saif, bringing his mouth over Saif's exposed throat and biting down brutally.

 

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Saif actually screamed, accompanied by Serenity and Tea, who couldn't believe the repulsive sight. Bakura's eyes, now wide and red and crazy, had a fire spiraling inside unlike any other, while he had his teeth buried deep in the man's skin.

 

“What? What's going on?!!?” Marik shouted, trying to be heard over Serenity's earth-shattering screams, but to no avail. He turned hoarsely backwards to see what was happening, but he only managed to see Bakura's silver head raise up from a mutely screaming Saif. The albino hadn't really sucked much blood, it was just the bite that hit the main artery that had immobilized the redhead. Marik turned quickly forwards again, maneuvering the car around an offensive vehicle and trying to find a place he could land.

 

Once Saif dropped solidly backwards on the seat, unconscious, Bakura shook his head and lapped at the blood still left on his lips.

 

“Refreshing, although bland.” Bakura explained to the gaping others as he nonchalantly shrugged, making sure to punch Saif one last time, just for the heck of it.

 

“AAAH!!!!!” Marik yelled suddenly, as he realized the thing was slipping out of his control, no matter what he did. A dozen signs about fuel leak must have gone off, but Marik was too deaf to hear them. The hover lunged forwards ungracefully, throwing Bakura off Saif and against the side other of the car. The albino groaned as Marik shouted at him “Bakura!! Help! I don't know how to stop it!!”

 

“Pushy, pushy…” Bakura muttered as he tried to make his head stop lolling back and forth out of dizziness. Marik saw the ground come dangerously closer

 

“WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!!! TAKE COVER!!!” Marik shouted at the top of his lungs, just before he felt an unspeakable force hit him from the side. He cried in pain as he was thrown away from the wheel and to the other side of the car, where he landed back-to-chest against Bakura, who automatically wrapped his hands around him. The tanned boy, knowing that what he was doing was completely paranoid at a crisis like this, but still unable to help it, took advantage of Bakura's embrace, twisting in the albino's arms in order to bury his face in the crook of Bakura's neck.

 

“AAHHH!” everyone on the back screamed and bent down, struggling to cover their heads with anything available. Serenity briefly saw a flash of white and gold, and instantly knew her Ryou's body was close to Marik again. An uncontrollable flash of jealousy came over her, demanding why she was forced to be separated from her rightful lover at a time like this. It was she who needed to be held, just like with Yugi and Tea. It was she who was Ryou's girlfriend, not Marik. The uneasiness of before suddenly grew into an insanely intense hate/jealousy towards Marik and Bakura both. They were the ones who were destroying her happiness- they were the ones that kept taking the one she loved away!

 

“Hold on!!” Yugi shouted as the inevitable crash came closer and Marik roughly fisted his hands on the back of Bakura's shirt, tugging on it almost viciously. In response, Bakura tightened his grip around Marik's back, sliding his hands further down around Marik's waist, but the tanned boy couldn't find it in himself to care. He just felt Bakura's nose and mouth squeeze against his shoulder and basked in the unbelievable warmth, momentarily forgetting their predicament.

 

But that wasn't so easy when their predicament came to haunt him in the form of a ground-shaking crash. Feeling the unearthly force hit his sternum and drag his head down, he shouted despondently in Bakura's arms, briefly getting a flash of guilt at the fact that he was now in the place Serenity should normally be.

 

But it was too hard to stay guilty about that when he felt like the ground was being taken from under his feet and his world was turning around him in a flash of colors and light. Everything rolled around except for the steady warmth around his torso and under his chest. The hoarse, uneven huffs of breath on his throat never left.

 

With a crumbling thud, their hovercraft landed, face first, on a metallic platform at the side of a tall building. Marik closed his eyes, not wanting to feel anything, trying to make the blackness stop spiraling around his shut lids.

 

Somehow, he realized, he had landed under Bakura during the crash, and now he was spread on the ground like a wounded eagle, with Bakura still on top of him, unmoving but for the unsteady breathing.

 

For a long time, Marik didn't see or hear or feel anything. In his mind, a thousand warning signs went off, telling him his friends could be hurt- dead even- but he couldn't find it in himself to open his eyes. All that mattered at that crucial moment was that Bakura was alive above him, breathing still, although with much labor. They were both alive. They'd made it. And even though he knew it was selfish, he was glad, at least for that.

 

More than ten minutes must have passed before someone on the back was heard scrambling around.

 

“Guys…?” Yugi's faint voice was heard, overly loud in the overwhelming silence. One by one, Marik heard his friends speak.

 

“Yugi!” Tea's unusually weak voice said “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

 

“I'm fine…Somehow…” the boy answered her, now not as a Game King but as normal Yugi. Apparently, during the crash, Dark Yugi had left the body. How convenient for him- if only everyone could do the same.

 

But Marik was getting more worried by the moment. There was a voice he didn't hear- the voice of one of the most gentle and caring people he'd ever met.

 

“Serena?” he heard Tea speak up, and his guilt intensified tenfold. If something had happened to Serenity and it was his fault, he would never be able to forgive himself. Never.

 

An ominous silence followed. “Serena?” Tea called again, more anxiously.

 

Distracted by the unresponsive Serena, Marik barely registered Bakura groan lightly and start shaking his head over him. Marik swallowed uneasily. If Serena was hurt because Ryou hadn't been there to protect her…if Marik had taken away her beloved…if…

 

“Mmmm…” a barely audible voice mumbled, and Marik hadn't realized to what extent he had been worrying until then “I'm'ere…” Serenity's soft voice said, and Marik felt his heart return to his ribcage.

 

“…You okay?” Yugi asked her tiredly as he shuffled around.

 

“'Bit dizzy…whoa…I think I hurt my hand…” Serenity said, and Marik didn't even fight the urge to smile at her goofy nature. He would make sure never to keep Ryou away from her again. Never, ever, ever again.

 

“…hey” Marik was startled by the sound of an uncomfortably deep voice, very close to his ear. How hard it was to think straight when Bakura was so close…”…you okay?” the spirit asked in that sinfully husky voice, and Marik fought not to become as emotional as a girl after a traumatic experience. That would make him do something he would regret dearly.

 

“Uh-huh..” he managed in a small voice, trying not to be heard by anyone.

 

“Well, that was fun, wasn't it?” Bakura scuffed in an annoyed whisper, seemingly also trying not to be heard by the others.

 

“Oh Yugi! I thought it was the end! I thought I'd never see you again!!” Tea squealed while jumping on a startled Yugi and Marik could almost feel Bakura tiredly roll his eyes. He was right about overemotional girls and hover-crashes, after all. But he still felt guilty for Serenity, who didn't have anyone to vent out her over-emotionality right now.

 

“Bakura…” he started in a pained voice, trying to fight the bitter sorrow about telling Bakura to go, consequently abandoning this warmth. After all, Marik was a man. He was meant to be strong and lonely. Not like Serenity, who needed Ryou's warmth much more than he did Bakura's.

 

“What's wrong?” Bakura said in unexpected alarm, obviously worried about Marik's slightly hurt tone “Are you hurt?” he let his voice raise up a bit, uncaring if the others heard, now. Marik watched through half-lidded, fuzzy eyes as Bakura's anxious face zoomed into view, his red eyes hovering few inches above Marik's nose.

 

“That fuck!” Bakura suddenly barked, finally taking clear notice of Marik's defiled and bloody nose and the red trails over his mouth “I guess I didn't pound him hard enough the first time. He'll pay for what he did.” Bakura made up his mind, the ire clear in his eyes.

 

Marik felt more and more unwilling to tell Bakura to go, seeing as Bakura lavishing him with his attention wasn't helping matters. That had always been his weak spot.

 

“Does it hurt a lot? Are you okay?” Bakura started saying while lightly inspecting Marik's face. Searching for signs of pain. Marik thought that the worried look was endearing on Bakura's face, especially since it was so extremely rare.

 

“Shhh.” Marik swatted Bakura's fingers away from his face “I'm fine” he said, resting his head on the floor freely while letting Bakura watch him from above,

 

Bakura furrowed his eyebrows “Then what is it?” he asked, switching his body mass from one elbow to the other, making Marik remember how terribly -and lewdly- he had been squeezed under the albino.

 

“Bakura…” Marik started, knowing he sounded idiotic and repetitive but unable to help it. He raised his palms and pulled Bakura's head forward, so that he could speak in the other's ear.

 

“I think you must go.” He said the hardest phrase he had ever had to say.

 

As though electrified, Bakura freed his head from Marik's fatigued grasp and stared at the other man half in surprise and half in confusion…and what was that in Bakura's eyes…it couldn't possibly be…inhibition?

 

“What? Why?” Bakura asked, alarmed, struggling to keep the hurt rejection from his face. Just when he had thought he'd found someone that didn't mind him being around, that someone had to betray his trust!? What had he done wrong anyway? Marik had never wanted him to leave before…It was that little fucker, Saif! Bakura knew he should've killed him when he had the chance. Now Marik was probably mad at him because he'd failed to protect him…

 

“Don't! Don't get mad!” Marik pleaded, watching the unveiled hurt now flash across Bakura's features. He took Bakura's head in his hands, letting his fingers card through the silky hair, watching with satisfaction as Bakura's eyes seemed to glaze over. “It's not that I don't want you…here” the tanned boy whispered, desperately hoping the vague voices he heard from afar were his three oblivious friends, that couldn't hear him.

 

Not really registering what he was doing and feeling his heart throb painfully in his chest, he let one of his hands slip around Bakura's head and slide down over his cheek to touch the unbelievably soft, creamy skin. The tanned young man tried to deny the heat that was coiling everywhere in his body when he saw Bakura close his eyes and turn his face around, so that his lips and nose where both grazing Marik's hand. The feeling of Bakura's wet lips against his fingers was sending shivers up his spine.

 

Afraid of Bakura's overly passionate conduct, and terrified of his own body's response, Marik started to take his hand away, only to be stopped when Bakura covered his hand with one of his own, forcing it to stay.

 

Frozen, staring in disbelief and now shockingly hoarse, Marik watched, enchanted, as Bakura held Marik's hand over his face with both of his own palms, rubbing it almost frantically against his cheekbones. Marik was so shocked by what he was seeing -and much more importantly, feeling-that he didn't even have the time to register that Bakura's mouth was now on his fingers, play-biting.

 

Bakura's closed eyes as his breaths hit Marik's hand, the faint trail of blood that led from the albino's mouth to his collarbone, the pale chest that rose and fell rapidly under Ryou's gothic black shirt…all those little things. Marik bitterly realized these ridiculous clothes fit Bakura very well… Suddenly, unexpectedly, as he watched Bakura's tongue dart out and lap at his hand, as he saw Bakura's red eyes peek at him through fallen lashes, Marik finally sorted out his feelings. He finally understood. And wanted to cry.

 

“Bakura…you have to go…” he started muttering, trying to tell Bakura to stop, to go away, to disappear from his life before it was too late, because what they were doing was wrong and they were both men, and Ryou already had a woman, and the two of them had no future, no matter what.

 

“I don't want to…not yet…” the overly husky voice breathed, making heat gather everywhere in Marik's lungs.

 

“no…listen to me…Bakura…we…” he tried again, forcing his mind to turn to thoughts of Serenity, alone and crippled without her Ryou, hating Marik for all he had done to her. But Bakura didn't seem to be listening, already too lost in this heat, this whirlpool. It had been too long, and for centuries he'd been trying to deny it- for centuries he'd tried to push the loneliness down. But it was no use denying it: the cold was killing him- he'd been dying all this time.

 

And now, finally, the heat of another human; not making him want to kill but making him want to live. The warmth of Marik's body- his eyes, his hair, his lips…Too long…He hadn't felt this need for heat ever before- not even with blood or murder and hate. Too long had he stayed in the shadows, too long had he sneered at mortal need, too long had he lived in hate and self-mutilation…

 

Now he wanted heat and the sun and Marik's smile. He wanted Marik's hands on him, over him, everywhere around him. A pang at his heart almost killed him at the remembrance that it wasn't his body after all. He was dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. He'd always been. He was gone, buried six feet under. Worms had probably already eaten his rotten corpse…

 

But he wanted to live. He wanted to live. For once after he discovered his existence, he didn't want to die: he wanted to live. To live and be warm, and fresh, and new again. To be reborn out of the ashes of eternity, to be free. Free with another human, not alone. Free with Marik, at last, somewhere where no one would have to manipulate him or curse at him or hate him. Somewhere where he wouldn't be afraid of touch and love and human contact…No responsibilities, no bloodlust, no Ryou drowning him in the guilt of death.

 

Marik choked on his own saliva when he felt Bakura's thighs at his sides, straddling him…if he'd turned a blind eye before, he couldn't deny it anymore. It was there, crushed against each other, completely hard and hot and primal: the proof of their true feelings. He felt Bakura move his palm downwards, to slide over the albino's terrifyingly taut nipples, over the gooseflesh of his biceps and even further down, to the hell of his arousal.

 

“Oh, Mariku…” Bakura suddenly moaned, leaving all caution to the wind and displaying a once-in-a-life time show of naked emotion. Just as the over-aroused, sentimental wrack he was, he let himself collapse over the other boy, finally letting go of Marik's hand and pulling him in a wholehearted embrace instead. Marik froze, not knowing what to feel and what to do. He felt Bakura's presence, his absolutely comforting display of friendship and emotion; he felt Bakura smell his hair, which was twisted under their lying bodies; he felt he wanted to die now and go to heaven.

 

His problems now amplified tenfold at the recent realization about his feelings, Marik did everything he could to reign over his urges, which ordered every single fiber of his body to grab Bakura, slam him against the floor and take him in any way possible, now.

 

“Guys?! Are you okay!?” was suddenly heard the frantic worried voice of Tea. Over-aware of what was happening and that if he didn't move instantly, Serenity would see her boyfriend in a very compromising position, Marik gritted his teeth and used all his strength- physical and psychological- to push Bakura off.

 

The albino, startled, suddenly realized that even though he wanted Marik with all his being, Marik didn't seem to want him, and he most probably never would. The mask of impersonality was instantly pulled over Bakura's features once more, his heart freezing over again in an instant, the ice of darkness penetrating his soul and stilling it forever in its abyss.

 

“Serena!” Marik started saying, overly worried she had actually seen them all over one another. He saw the three of his friends climbing over the ruins of their hovercraft and frantically looked over to Bakura, whose form was now hunched over, prone on the floor, looking away from him.

 

“Marik!!” Serena worriedly gasped, only now managing to get a good look at Marik's broken nose. She saw where Ryou's body was in proportion to Marik's and cursed herself for being so insanely stupid so as to think something was actually going on between them before. After all, they were both men, and they were only friends. “Oh Marik, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Is your nose all right?! Ryou! Are you all right?”

 

When the twin ruby eyes turned icily towards Serenity, she realized this was not her lucky day. Bakura was still in control of Ryou's body, and to Serena's annoyance, he didn't seem very willing to leave.

 

“Oh. Hi.” Serenity said in an unusual monosyllabity that didn't characterize her very much. Bakura didn't answer her attempt at being cold, not even to show her he didn't care. Right now, he only cared about one thing: making himself hate Marik. He wanted to. He wanted to hate him so much. He wanted it to show in his face that he hated Marik, because if it didn't, he was afraid he'd let go of all pretences, and everyone would see him break down and scream out his rejection. So it was all a lie, wasn't it? All the words, the touches, the gazes…they meant nothing. How could he have been so stupid so as to think his `feelings' would matter, even for a moment? How could he be so blinded by his need for Marik that he never even realized Marik would never want him in return. He was dead- he didn't even exist, and that was the truth, no matter how much he hated it. What would Marik ever want with him, except to use him and fuck with his brain, just like everybody else? That's what Marik was: just another little shit, like everybody else. Like everybody else…

 

What was it, that made Marik so special, anyway? Huh? Nothing! Nothing at all! Not his crystal eyes, not his shiny hair, not his flawless face, not his witty remarks!! Absolutely nothing made Marik special! He was nothing! Another insignificant mortal worm in Bakura's way, one that Bakura had been stupid enough to notice and let climb on his foot. But he would shake it off, and crush it, just like he had every other. He would crush him. He would destroy Marik! He hated him!! Hated him, hated him, hated him, hated him, HATES him!!!!!! It was never anything else, only misjudged malice he'd ever felt for the blond.

 

And as he watched Serenity and Tea fawn over the beautiful boy and saw Marik's kind yet slightly bitter smile towards Serena, he felt his hate and jealousy swell even bigger inside him. He was left in the dark corner, as always, left alone, cold and bloody, to rot in his slimy dark prison. And Marik…Marik…Marik had kindness and charm to share with everyone except him. Everyone always had everything, except him. And now, the one thing he'd wanted more than anything he'd ever known was denied to him so bluntly, so absolutely…He hated Marik- he truly did. He hated him. Hated him and everyone else around him. Hated that Serena woman, hated Tea, hated Yugi, and overall, hated Rishid, hated, hated, hated Rishid, the same Rishid who he'd seen receiving Marik's love confession, albeit brotherly.

 

“Ryou…Are you okay?” young Yugi's voice suddenly startled him out of his reverie. Yugi seemed to have a hard bruise on his cheek, but looked okay, overall. Bakura was annoyed at his interruption, which had rudely disrupted his trail of hateful thoughts. Apparently, Yugi had not yet realized he wasn't talking to Ryou, even though he could see dark spirits. Bakura didn't bother hiding his identity.

 

“I'm fine. Get lost.” He said gruffly, avoiding Yugi's eyes since he wanted to be alone. He ignored the alien knot in his stomach and the stale taste in his mouth, the taste he vaguely recognized as blood, which didn't seem so appealing, suddenly.

 

“Bakura, then…” Yugi shook his head in mock disappointment and winced slightly as he moved his neck. “Are you sure you're okay?”

 

“I said I'm fine!!” Bakura barked, annoyed, making Serena and Tea jump and Marik turn to look at him questioningly, with those slim, crystal, pretty eyes that Bakura wanted to rip out. He hated the fact that everyone was looking at him, felt like a leper all of a sudden. He felt strange when he saw Marik's eyes widen at him, seemingly surprised, but to Bakura it seemed as though Marik was sneering at him, mocking him, playing with him and daring him to ridicule himself even more- daring him to even try showing his feelings again. God, he hated Marik. He hated him even more!

 

“Bakura…” Yugi's kind voice started.

 

“What the hell is you're problem??! I'm fucking fine!” Bakura practically screamed at Yugi, who strangely stayed unshaken, and Bakura felt terrified inside, terrified that he wasn't even capable of terrorizing a single mortal anymore. Had he become so crippled, really, just because of the need for Marik?

 

“Then why are you crying?” Yugi simply asked, his face displaying the honest concern Bakura hated- the kind of concern you know will disappear when they get the first chance to backstab you. Just like with him. And as Bakura fully took in the meaning of Yugi's words, he finally understood why they were all gaping, and he wanted to reach out and tear his own eyes out of his face, forcing them to stop betraying him and show his true colors! His eyes widened, uncontrollably and his jaws started shaking, dropping open. He heard more than felt the moisture of his own, alien, tears splashing against his cheekbones and suddenly realized what the cleansing taste in his mouth was.

 

Unable to stop his now fully released horror he took a step backwards, trying to reassure Yugi he was wrong, that Dark Bakura never cried- ever. He turned around, hoping to all deities known that Marik hadn't seen how much he had hurt him- hadn't believed…But when he saw the equally wide, horrified eyes stare at him, he let out a choked cry and swallowed dryly.

 

The next moment, Ryou's body had fallen to the floor, motionless and empty, dead and cold- the soul inside had left. Serenity rushed to her beloved's body, realizing Bakura had finally left, and was eager to bring out her boyfriend, when she felt a force shove her away from the side and she saw him- Marik- grabbing her love's shoulders and shaking him frantically. The others were watching mutely, not knowing what to do or what to say, as Marik started shouting.

 

“Bakura!! NO!” he almost hysterically called at Ryou's lethargic body, shaking it harder. Serenity stayed out of the way, watching Marik and Bakura with unseeing eyes, her worst fears now finally coming to pass “It's not like it seems- I didn't want you to go! Please, Bakura!!!” he cried, and everyone saw wet drops fall from Marik's eyes to sleeping Ryou's cheek. Despondent in his despair, Marik let go of Ryou's body and reached inside the boy's shirt for the now icy ring.

 

“Come back!!!” he screamed at the golden item, clawing at it with his nails like an animal. Tea buried her face in Yugi's chest, frightened by Marik's hoarse shouts “Come back, dammit!! I only did it for Ryou, don't you understand?!!? What would happen if she saw us?!” he barked, not caring one bit that he was just revealing everything in front of everyone “Don't do this, Bakura! I need you!! Now more than ever…” he kept saying while Serenity had put a palm over her mouth, unbelieving, guilty and terrified at the same time. This was too intense, too passionate…Marik was falling apart- and she hadn't seen Marik fall apart before. She hadn't been in the KC Base, when he freaked out, nor had she been in the underground cave, when he cried about his past. She hadn't seen him like this before. Suddenly, she felt like she didn't even know him.

 

“Bakura…” Marik let out a final whimper. He didn't even notice it when Serena placed a hand on his shoulder. She softly bent down and pulled the ring out of Marik's grasp, tucking it back under Ryou's shirt.

 

“C'mon…” she tried as hard as she could to understand the problem without crying herself from the intensity of Marik's passion “Don't worry, Marik…I'm sure he'll come back…he always does, doesn't he?”

 

“It's…not the same” Marik realized, horrified. “You…I…I'm such an idiot!!!!!” Marik roared at the top of his lungs, the echo of his shout bouncing over every wall in the vicinity.

 

“Don't blame yourself Marik…” Tea found it in herself to say, finally letting go of Yugi's embrace. At last she'd accepted that even though males sounded absolutely frightening when screaming; their hoarse, deep voices didn't make them less human than everyone else “We'll never truly understand Bakura…right? So you can't expect…”

 

Marik shook his head, as though admitting to himself what a complete idiot he was “You're right. You won't…” he started, fighting to keep the sobs inside his ribcage and not let the world see what a coward this love for Bakura had made of him “ but I do…” he admitted and shoved the balls of his hands in his eyes, as though trying to stop the inevitable tears that would follow, just like they always did when it was about Bakura.

 

“Marik…” Serenity shook her head, feeling guiltier than she ever had, for having ignored Marik's feelings for so long and treated him as an all-powerful leader. He was human too, and, apparently, Bakura's presence had been keeping him together all this time- the same presence that Serenity had kept scorning a while ago.

 

“I'm so sorry…” she said, wrapping her hands around the back of Marik's shoulders in a hug, with Ryou's body still lying under them “We all are.” She said, and felt tears climb up her eyes. She turned to the others and gave them a pleading gaze. After a few moments, Tea and Yugi where over Marik also, comforting him as much as they could.

 

“We expected too much of you, Marik…” Yugi sighed, patting Marik's shoulder. “It's unfair.”

 

“Nobody should have to go through that much…no human.” Serenity shook her head “Please, forgive us.” She asked the unmoving youngster.

 

“We're your friends too, you know, and if you ever need help, you don't have only him. You know that, right? Your friends will help you, always.” Tea gently said, her words suddenly seeming less like a preach and more like an honest advice. It didn't do anything to ease his pain however, since he now felt guilty that his other friends could never compensate to the possible loss of Bakura in his heart.

 

Marik couldn't find it in himself to speak as he let his eyes trail over Ryou Bakura's unmoving face, his pale lips, and the inexplicably aesthetic red trail over the porcelain jaw. Only a few minutes before, that mouth had been licking him, moaning at him- those eyes had been open and red, beckoning him finally to dominate them…

 

But now….within mere minutes…from having everything, he suddenly had nothing.

 

And once again, it was his own fault.

 

 

 

It couldn't have been more than an hour since they crashed. They knew the CyberCops would come to the site of the accident immediately, so they'd made sure to get away from there as quickly as possible.

 

They had dragged Ryou's mysteriously consciousless body along with them and had walked around the suspiciously dark and isolated building they had landed on. Marik was now once again walking at the front of the group, only now he had Serenity by his side. How ironic. Before, when he had Bakura within his grasp, he was worrying about Serenity. Now that Bakura had finally gone, Marik couldn't find it in his guilty conscience to care less what Serenity would ever think of him. Honestly, he disgusted himself, sometimes.

 

Ryou's body was thrown over one of Marik's shoulders, even after Yugi's repeated offers to help carry him. The party kept walking around the dark corridors of the somewhat creepy building, always watchful for sudden CyberCop appearances.

 

“Doesn't it seem a little weird that this place is absolutely empty from people?” Serenity somewhat suspiciously questioned, but Marik didn't seem to be listening to her. Instead, he simply kept staring straight, just like a blind man who had just learned to silently accept his fate. This continued silence from Marik's part was worrying Serenity more and more, since she didn't know whether Marik was ready to take fully rational decisions, in his state of mind. And now, with Ryou seemingly out of it, the group's dependence on Marik's person became even more uncomfortably, pronounced.

 

They had just entered yet another dark corridor with a spotlight at the end, when they detected movement in the end of it. Tired as they were from the crash and slightly crippled as well, they didn't realize it was a person until they had walked a fair distance towards the end.

 

“Who's that?” Tea asked in alarm, as she took in the desolate figure in the end of the corridor, seemingly unmoving but undeniably human.

 

“I can't tell yet…We'll have to go closer…” Serenity answered in a whisper.

 

“I don't like this…maybe we have to turn back…”Yugi started saying, when they all saw the figure in the other end of the corridor move. The person walked towards them and they all realized he was wearing long, billowing robes, and a hood to cover his head.

 

Marik, numbly unperturbed by the situation, kept steadily walking forward, his usual strut now nowhere to be seen, having been replaced by a sullen stumble.

 

The figure kept walking towards them also, and Serenity vaguely wandered what were the chances of they're coincidental landing on that building. She also idly wandered if Marik understood they were on a missio. He certainly didn't seem to be aware of the environment ever since he and Bakura had that little crisis- whatever it was about.

 

“Hello there.'” A calm male voice suddenly greeted them from the direction of the cloaked figure. This all seemed increasingly strange to be happening coincidentally, Serenity and Yugi thought. Tea was preoccupied with the troubled frown that had formed on Marik's face.

 

“Who are you?” Marik cut to the chase, not too politely. The figure stayed silent for a few moments, making Marik wonder what this was all about “Why is this place empty?” Marik questioned again, obviously not up to games anymore.

 

The figured laughed quietly, drawing goosebumps on Serenity's flesh. That laugh didn't seem very kind, although the cloaked man certainly made an effort to soften it…

 

“I'm surprised you should ask, Marik.” The voice amiably said, and Marik's eyes snapped to the figure immediately. He didn't remember introducing himself to this guy. He also eerily recognized the voice, as though he'd heard it somewhere before, only not exactly like that…

 

“How do you know my name?” he asked quickly, but the cloaked man completely ignored his question and continued his explanation.

 

“This is one of the old factory units. One of the factories that used to work centuries ago…Now it's just an empty dump, restricted to the public for reasons unknown. But it's prohibited by law to wreck the factories like this…no one knows why.” The figure strangely informed.

 

“There are more places like this?” Marik asked, not losing a beat. Perhaps this numbness and general tiredness was making him more emotionless and efficient than ever, Serenity thought. But then again, with Marik, one ever knows what he's thinking and how much of it is reflected in his face.

 

“Oh, plenty.” The figure didn't hesitate to say. “In fact, one of these empty buildings serves as Mr. Ishrat's current home.”

 

Silence dropped heavy between the four friends and the stranger. Marik, overly careful not to let his vexation show in his voice, said: “How do you know we're looking for Ishrat?”

 

Once again, the teasing laughter echoed around them, chilling the blood in their veins.

 

“Oh, I know much about you, Marik…” the figure said, slowly starting to walk forward, making everyone except Marik scurry backwards. The tanned boy stayed put, Ryou still unconscious over his shoulder, and stared right at the figure. He was so tired of this. So tired of the adventure. The truth was, he wanted it all to be over. As selfish as it was, he wanted it to end, either with him as the winner or not. He never asked for any of this, did he? All he wanted was a simple life- a life with memories. He was willing to let even that go, if Bakura could come back. He just wanted it to be over, now that it was clear Bakura hated him. He wanted everything to come to an end, even if it meant he'd have to die to get the answers. He knew he shouldn't drag the others down with him, but his selfishness had suffered too much of trauma to reside.

 

“Who are you?” Yugi repeated Marik's curious question from before, but the figure didn't answer, only walked forward, the long cloak billowing black behind him. Once he'd reached Marik, he stopped and gave Marik a full view of his cloak covered face.

 

Suddenly, the man leaned in and bent towards Marik's ear, whispering there the few words that he knew were needed to instigate the chain reaction.

 

“I know what you're searching for…I know where your memory is.” He whispered breathily and stepped back out of Marik's personal space.

 

“Because that's what you want, isn't it, Marik?” the man in the tunic said, slowly turning backwards and walking away, leaving Marik wide eyed and cold, chilled to the bone with fright and excitement at the same time.

 

“Wait!” he shouted, and the figure immediately stopped, waiting for the next words “How? How do you know all this?”

 

If Marik could see in the darkness, he would clearly recognize a smile in the cloaked man's lips. “I have my ways…I've been watching you for a long time…” he hissed with his poisonous voice, and slowly turned around again. Serenity was getting more and more nervous about both this, and the current stability of Marik's judgment.

 

“What a wonderful pet you have there.” The cloaked man remarked, motioning lazily towards Ryou's motionless body. Marik's vision started reddening in ire “Don't call him that!” Marik roared, bringing out a new string of laughter from the cloaked figure.

 

“And why not? Isn't that what he was to Kaiba? A pet. But, of course, to you he means so much more…you are friends, after all, are you not?” the cloaked man teased, and Serenity felt sick, truly sick, sick down to her gut. Somehow, she knew what this stranger meant with those words, even if he didn't have to say it aloud. And it stung her that a part of Ryou, even though a small part, would prefer someone else over her.

 

“Would you like to know…” the stranger started, taking a small step back towards the now nervous Marik “Would you like to know…” he let the statement trail on, seemingly enjoying the bobbing of Marik's Adam's apple and the cold sweat that had broken at the other boy's brow.

 

“…how to give him his body back?” he whispered again, making Marik gasp and tremble. Instantly Dark Yugi broke out of his golden Pyramid.

 

“What does he mean? Is he talking about…Ryou's Darkside?” the Game King frantically questioned and everyone was startled when the cloaked man started laughing again, this time harder than any other time. Could he…hear the spirits too?

 

“Who else would I be talking about?” he answered, verifying the fact that he could see the spirits also. “Tell me, Marik…” he started, somewhat teasingly “To what extents would you go, to make him live again…I know how you can do it…I know where…”

 

Losing all semblance of control, Marik lurched forward and grabbed the man's cloak in a fist “Tell me!!” he ordered, squeezing the man's clothes in his first.

 

“Easy…easy, Marik…” the man raised a gloved hand and loosened Marik's grip on his clothes. Shaken to the core by the man's previous words, and with a spark of hope now flying around his stomach, Marik stepped backwards and looked at the other expectantly. Meanwhile, Serenity and Tea were watching the exchange with a growing feeling of dread, knowing already that Marik had lost the battle.

 

“You wouldn't want your only information contact to get hurt, would you?” the man teased with his slithery voice.

 

“Stop playing games and just tell me what you know!” Marik said, trying not to sound like he was begging, which he practically was, at least in his head.

 

The man laughed yet again and slowly turned his back to Marik in order to walk away. “Follow me.” He offered “And I will take where you want to go.”

 

“And where is that?” Tea questioned, trying to prolong the situation, not liking the thought of following this guy anywhere.

 

“Why, to Mr. Ishrat, of course…he will help you find what you've lost…he will give you the answers…isn't that right, Marik?” the man turned to Marik, and the tanned boy was sure he was sneering behind his cloak. That voice…that luring voice seemed awfully familiar, somehow, only Marik couldn't remember where he'd heard it before…

 

“Who. Are. You.” Marik simply drawled out with narrowed eyes “tell me, or I'm not going to follow you anywhere.” He practically attempted to blackmail.

 

“Suit yourself…Mr. Ishrat was looking so forward to seeing you…I guess I'll have to disappoint him…Of course, you'll never get the answers you want, but…who cares, right? One can't have everything. But, I assure you, you will never find Mr.Ishrat another way…” well…that blackmail was certainly much more successfully put.

 

“Wait!” Marik called again, seeing the man turn to leave. Yet again, the man stopped dead in his tracks and waited, as though enjoying his power over the situation, which he probably was.

 

“Yeeeeeessss?” he drawled in a sing-song voice, and it suddenly dawned on Serenity that the man had sounded extremely deranged all along.

 

“I'll…I'll follow you.” Marik seemed to have made up his mind. Serenity stared at him, wide eyed “Marik what are you saying?” she argued “Are you crazy? It's an obvious trap, you must be able to understand that!!”

 

“I know it's a trap, Serena…” he said in a low voice, and turned to Tea and Yugi “You don't have to go if you don't want to…But…I'm going…It's the only way, I know. I'm not leaving here unless I get some answers…I have to clear this up…”

 

Serenity, Yugi and Tea exchanged looks of disbelief and stared at Marik as though he was crazy. But the tanned boy was rigid in his decision. He was tired of this…he wanted it to be over, one way or another. He gave the others a choice, however…A choice to escape, even though he wasn't sure the cloak man would let them escape in the first place…

 

“My brother…Joey…” Serenity started saying “If there's a chance I can find him…even a slim one…I'll take it. If he's with Ishrat, then that's where I must go…I believe…I believe this is a trap, but we have no other chance of finding him either way…so…I'm going with you….”

 

“And I'm going with you too, because if there's a way that a spirit can be returned to its body, then I have to find it…” Yugi explained, exchanged a look of determination with dark Yugi and pursed his lips.

 

“I'm not letting all my friends fight alone.” Tea said determinedly, making Marik smile, for reasons unknown “Where we go, we go together. And I'm not leaving Yugi. No matter if this is a trap or not.”

 

“Then…we're going?” Marik asked for reassurance, and everyone nodded. Slowly, Marik turned to watch the cloaked figure, which was turned towards them again.

 

“Peeeeeeerfect.” The man purred satisfactorily and laughed in his customary cruel way. Serenity reached out automatically for Tea's hand and watched the man in the long robes walk away slowly, obviously beckoning them to follow him.

 

It was Marik who took the first step after their guide. With his heart beating fast and his lips white from angst, he started walking hesitantly after the cloaked figure. The ultimate reality of what he was doing was slowly dawning on him, and he was slowly realizing in what a trap he was walking into. But he also knew it couldn't be helped, if he wanted to gain something. It was easy to give up when the hard times came, but that way, no one won anything. He had to do this. For himself…for Bakura…

 

Stiffening his muscles, Marik let an unintelligible whimper. He raised a hand and cradled the back of unconscious Ryou's head- or, as he saw it, Bakura's head.

 

“I know that what I'm doing is crazy…” he whispered in the albino's ear, as though he thought Bakura could hear him from inside the body “And I know they'll never let us out of there alive, but…” he tried to justify his actions, closing his eyes and letting a crystal tear roll down his cheek “but it there is a way to make you live…I'll do anything…anything…”

 

But Bakura's unresponsive body filled his heart with fright and coldness and loneliness “I'll make you live, Bakura…and when I do, I'm never letting you go again.” At this, he squeezed Bakura's body closer “Never again…” he confessed as he lightly kissed Bakura's temple, tasting the frozen coldness of his pale skin, beneath the silken moonlight hair.

 

“Where to?” Yugi asked the cloaked man as he sauntered guilelessly forward.

 

“Why…” the man slowly said, not bothering to look at Yugi as he spoke “To Kuru Eruna, of course…” he smiled behind his cloak, and Marik felt a chill race up his spine at the mentioning of the name, as though he'd heard it somewhere before…

 

“…the Village of the Dead.”

 

 

 

 

In the lights of the busy city, the mysterious man that was guiding them didn't seem as black and colorless as before. In the flashing lights of the passing hovercrafts and the ominous spotlights of the towers above, the man's long cloak glowed deep purple- the color Rishid often wore, Marik uncomfortably noted. But the man's voice reminded him nothing of Rishid, even though it was familiar…but it was familiar in a different way, somehow…In the forehead area, the man's cloak had the lilac imprint of a big eye, as ominous looking and as ritualistic as the rest of his appearance.

 

But then again, in the midst of all the chaos in level B, no one's appearance could be considered `strange'. Marik watched metallic underground buildings tower around them, and wondered whether or not one of them would be Kuru Eruna.

 

Ryou's dead weight on his shoulder was wearing Marik off, and many times he'd been forced to switch shoulders. He had walked just about as much as he could bear, through dark roads and across ominous streets and into another deserted old factory. They'd descended to the factory's lowest floor when the guide finally stopped.

 

Marik, relieved for the rest, let Ryou's body lie on the floor while he sat next to it, completely worn out. From behind him, Serenity's much less fatigued voice called out “Are we there yet?”

 

The guide didn't say anything, just raised one dark gloved hand and pointed forward. The chain attached to his cloak on the forehead clinked gently as he moved. Marik raised his eyes upwards, meeting nothing but an absolutely dark void. There was nothing there; no building…no door…nothing. Just an isolated, empty landscape.

 

“Is this some kind of joke?” he asked in a stale tone, not even bothering to be worried. Right now, he was only worrying that all his walking had gone to waste.

 

“Hardly.” The man in the cloak said and lowered his pointing finger.

 

“Then where the heck is the building?” Yugi asked, impatiently. If only he could see the guide's amused smile from under his cloak.

 

“Who says it has to be a building?”

 

And with those words, they all heard a deep sound coming from the ground, as though a thousand eggs were hatching at the same time. Serenity and her friends cluttered near each other in a frightened manner and Marik grabbed Ryou's body and pulled it near him in order to protect it.

 

The guide remained standing rigidly, completely unperturbed, as the very ground under his feet started to shake. Before everyone's very eyes, the ground in front of the guide split in two and started sinking, revealing a secret passage that led deep into the ground. Distracted, Marik wondered why no one had ever noticed there was such a thing in this building's basement, but then he remembered they were in an area restricted to civilians. How convenient. And how strange that the cloaked guide had access to these restricted buildings.

 

“Follow me” the man in the purple cloak said and walked toward the dark crypt. Tea made a whimpering sound, but was convinced to follow when the Game King emerged and tugged at her hand. As for Serenity, she followed Marik from a very close distance as he sunk in the dark passage after the guide.

 

If the old factories were dark, they were nothing compared to this. A black corridor, completely dark, with no light on the other end whatsoever. They all had to grope blindly for the walls in order to walk forward, their only guide being the mystery man's steady footfalls.

 

“Forgive the thick atmosphere, my guests” the man's voice called from far front, in a tone far too pleased for comfort “The catacombs are murky and damp, as expected…”

 

They all gulped involuntarily. Catacombs? These were tombs? Death-dungeons in the depths of the earth… If so, there would have to be corpses. Marik was not very looking forward to finding out, all of a sudden.

 

“Yugi…I'm scared…”was heard Tea's soft whimper and Yugi's reassuring, yet shaky tone. Even though they were whispering, in the silent heat of the long corridor, the echo of their words sounded like a scream. Finally, in the nonexistent horizon, Marik made out what was a light- blue by the looks of it.

 

An uneasy sense of deja-vu hit him, as he recalled having walked in a dark corridor towards a blue light more than once…Oh yes…Surely in the secret crypt of his own house in Yango, he had walked the path towards the glowing symbols more than once.

 

He didn't really want to step out of the corridor when he reached the clearing, even though he knew he had to. He knew what he'd see before he raised his eyes and saw it. On the end of the corridor was a humungous room with glowing hieroglyphic inscriptions carved everywhere on the walls. The blue light illuminated the cloaked figure of their guide, who was standing tall and motionless in the middle of the room. Around them, in every wall of the huge round room there were tall stone arches, which spread out to different corridors- probably leading to different parts of the Catacomb.

 

“Are you watching this?” Marik whispered in unconscious Bakura's ear as his eyes darted out over the hieroglyphics on the walls, recognizing them as the very same inscriptions that were carved on his back and that existed in his own house, in Yango.

 

But Bakura didn't say anything, and Marik felt more alone than ever, faced with his secrets falling apart like this.

 

“What is this place?” Serenity asked no one in particular. Walking around carefully, as though afraid she would step on a booby trap- not that impossible, judging by the surroundings.

 

“Look how they glow! What is it, some kind of light that glows in the dark, probably…” Tea commented in fascination as she pointed at the carved inscriptions on the walls. Yugi, alarmed by the silence of the cloaked man and the stillness of their surroundings, kept his mouth shut and lowered Tea's hand softly.

 

“Yugi, what-“ the girl started saying.

 

“Shhh” he hissed, putting his index in front of his lips. That made her close her mouth, finally. Now was not the time for Tea's good-natured overexcitement.

 

“Where are we?” Marik asked the silent guide, now hoping for some sort of explanation.

 

“This is the main hall of Kuru Eruna. The doors around you each lead to a different lab. At least, they used to be labs. Now they are tombs…We guard them.”

 

Marik's ear twitched at that. “Tombs? What Tombs?”

 

But the man didn't answer, instead he stayed still and said nothing, seemingly waiting for something.

 

Suddenly, as they were watching the glyphs on the walls, Marik felt a tingling sensation at the back of his neck. It started growing into a persistent itch.

 

“Shit.” He said and promptly let Bakura lie on the ground while he reached to scratch the back of his neck in an irritated manner. But suddenly, he realized, no matter how much he scratched, the itch wouldn't go away, growing more and more persistent until it started hurting him.

 

“Look!” Tea yelped all of a sudden, pointing again at the glowing symbols “They're changing color!!”

 

And they really were going from light blue to fiery orange, only Marik didn't have the time to see it, too preoccupied by the sudden ache all over his back.

 

“What the heck have you done?” he shouted at the cloaked figure, but only barks of merciless laughter answered him.

 

“AARGH!!!” Marik screamed in pain and fell to his knees behind the cloaked guide. He hadn't managed to reach the man in time. The pain on his back had paralyzed him, and he was now flailing around on the floor.

 

“Marik, what's wrong with you!?” Serenity shouted frantically, trying to understand where Marik was hurting. Tea and Yugi also rushed to him, not yet registering that the cloaked man had run into one of the dark arched doors the moment everyone had been distracted.

 

Screaming and pulling at his hair like a madman, Marik kept writhing on the floor, under the imposing lights of the red-glowing symbols, which seemed to possess him more and more by the second.

 

“MARIK!!!!” Serenity cried, but couldn't, for the life of her, understand what was happening. She saw her handsome friend spit out blood and she saw blood slide down from under his black shirt, but couldn't understand what was happening.

 

And then, suddenly, roughly, she was literally thrown to the side as someone pushed her from behind. She fell against Tea and turned around finally to see the back of her own boyfriend's silver head, who was standing, apparently alive and well again, over a fevered Marik.

 

“Where does it hurt?!?!” Bakura's high and hoarse voice was heard as he bent and brutally took hold of Marik's writhing form.

 

“S…S…Sy…” Marik cried out pathetically, while tossing around on the ground as though demons had entered his brain. Deep down, he felt happy that Bakura had awoken once more, but the torture was numbing his mind.

 

“Sy-what? What, Mariku, WHAT?!!?” Bakura's anguished cry echoed around the great room as he shook Marik by the shoulders.

 

“SYMBOLS!!!!!!AAHHH!!” Marik screamed at the top of his lungs while his back arched in Bakura's hands like a dying snake, and his legs kicked towards all directions frantically.

 

“Bakura!!!! Help him!!!!” Serenity cried out in despair as she tried to run to Marik's side, only to be held back by Yugi, who kept watching the scene unfurl in front of him with a grimace of angst on his face.

 

Bakura lost no time, understanding finally what Marik was on about and cursing himself for not realizing it earlier. With barbaric force, he grabbed Marik's sides and turned the man around so that he lay prostrate. Then, with brutal force, born only out of the need to protect, Bakura's took hold of the back of Marik's collar and ripped the shirt from top to bottom, releasing a blood-curdling ripping sound to accompany Marik's cries.

 

Serenity, Tea and Yugi alike gasped at what they saw, their eyes going wide and dilated when faced with the flood of blood that was flowing down Marik's back. The carved symbols on his skin looked like living pores, all of a sudden, letting blood ooze out and down Marik's back like acid.

 

Bakura, not knowing what to do when faced with such peril, feeling completely helpless, only tried to calm Marik down, keeping his shoulders still and massaging whatever he could find. But nothing seemed to work for the screaming boy, who seemed to be loosing an unnatural amount of blood in too short a time. In the meantime, Bakura was distracted by all the symbols around him, which somehow made him dizzy and kept giving him flashes of memory or voices, which faded out again. He couldn't concentrate.

 

“Look!! The doors!!!” Tea shouted all of a sudden, and everyone except Marik whipped around to stare at the tall arches. Beneath each one now stood a different cloak figure, the eye on their foreheads illuminated solely by the red glowing symbols. And then, unexplainably shaken, Bakura watched another figure walk under the central, greatest arch. This one was different though, and it somehow alarmed Bakura, that this one would be holding a golden shiny rod, with an eye carved on the top. And eye that glowed eerily, as the man behind the cloak pointed it at Marik.

 

“What are you doing to him!! STOP!!” Serenity shouted at him, but to no avail. The man didnn't stop approaching and his cloaked followers didn't stop either, only when they had formed a tight circle around the five friends did they stop, their faces covered by their imposing hoods.

 

Faced with the full frontal view of the golden Rod with its glowing eye, Bakura felt something vastly unfamiliar and cold clawing at his insides: fear. This time, it was fear for his life.

 

 

“To Kuru Eruna, brat…A place where you'll learn some real manners…”

 

“Your father made deals with people, kid…dangerous deals…best not to blame yourself”

 

“Ryou!! Ryou!!!! HELP!!!!”

 

“I think a dreamcatcher would be best…the boy always was a dreamer, after all…”

 

“Bring me the pyramid. I want this to be symbolic!!”

 

“Let me go! AHAHAHAH!!! Take it off me!!!! TAKE IT OFF!!!AHHHH!!!!!”

 

“What's the matter? Afraid, are we?”

 

“You're sick!!! You're SICK!!”

 

“Not as sick at you, boy. You're the one with the red eyes.”

 

“What have you done to me?!!?!? What have you DONE!!!!?!?!”

 

 

The world was spinning out of control in front of Bakura's eyes. The flash wasn't as bad as all the other times, but it shook him to the core. When he managed to get back on his feet, he saw Dark Yugi shaking as well, obviously affected by the Rod. Bakura made his best effort to focus back on what was happening, not letting go of Marik's writhing body for a moment. And then, he saw the Leader with the scepter walk closer, and almost lost it.

 

Bakura, barely managing to contain his anger, stared up at the leader with the rod, which appeared to be torturing Marik. When the man with the Rod came close enough, Bakura reluctantly let go of Marik and stood to face his enemy.

 

With a background of pained screams, Bakura narrowed his eyes at the man whose face he could not see.

 

“Put it down.” He said, simply, knowing well enough what he would do if his order was not obeyed.

 

“Welcome home, Nehti. We weren't expecting you so early.” An eerily familiar voice answered him from behind the cloak. For a second time that day, Bakura's heart froze over, but this time it wasn't because of hurt…it was because of fear-an emotion not even the bravest of men could induce on him. But it wasn't because of the eerie name the man had called him…it was because of something else…

 

“This is a wonderful opportunity, my son…Since Nehti is here, you will perfect your powers with the Rod, and you shall need me no longer…” the cloaked figure from the leader's right said in an eager, almost happy tune.

 

“What is this?” Bakura fought to keep down his unexplainable wild, irate fear “Who are you people? Why do you call me that?” he asked, not even willing to say that name, which gave him goosebumps, for some reason.

 

“We are the Rare Hunters.” One of the cloaked men answered him and another continued the statement “We are the ones who guard the Tomb”

 

“Yes…we are the GOULS who find rare mind slaves, aren't we?” the right-hand-man commented again. He was probably the leader's father, if his words from before could be taken into account.

 

“Don't you remember, Nehti? We found you.” The man with the golden Rod teased and suddenly twisted his Rod in what looked like a hurtful manner, eliciting longer and even more painful screams from Marik's part.

 

“Stop it!! You're killing him!!!!” Serenity screamed from the side, desperate to stop this torture.

 

“Oh that's not true…It can't kill him…Can it, Marik?” the leader teased in what seemed like a derisive tone, again in that strangely familiar voice that froze Bakura's insides. “Tell her, Jou…tell your sister it won't kill him.” The man with the Rod suddenly said, and Serenity's face contorted into a mask of terror, as she saw one of the imposing figures lower the hood and reveal the face behind…

 

The brother of her dreams, with his warm mocha skin and pretty golden hair…so tall and strong…and his eyes…so fathomless and dead. “It won't kill him, Seren.” He said in a robotic voice, as though hypnotized.

 

Serenity took a step back, obviously horrified “Joey…JOEY!! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU!?”

 

“They've made me see the light. Don't you understand, Seren? Everything is perfect, now. Clean and orderly. Order is the most important thing. You trust me, don't you, little sister?” Joey questioned with a crazed gleam now adorning his eyes, but still with a zombie-like voice. Serenity, faced with the sneer of her own brother, the very one she'd been trying to save all along, didn't even think of what she was doing when she dived behind Bakura, clutching his shoulder. It didn't matter who he was now- evil or good, friend or foe… all that mattered was that he wasn't one of…one of them!!

 

For his part, Bakura didn't seem to notice. He just stared first at Joey and then at the leader. Marik's screams tore through the ear, deafening them all with their volume.

 

“Vocal, isn't he?” the Leader teased once more, making the vein on Bakura's forehead throb.

 

“Let. Him. Go.” Bakura said through his gritted teeth.

 

“And why should he, when all he's good for is to ruin people's plans?” a female voice said, and her figure let down the hood, revealing long platinum curls falling over blank purple eyes.

 

“Miss Mai!!!!!” Tea nearly screetched at the sight of a soulless, cold face which was once full and smiling and young. “Ho-How…when…why did you…? What about your kids!?” she asked, but Mai didn't seem to hear her voice, much less the nature of her questions.

 

“Resistance is futile. You'll become one of us very soon, much like the rest of them.” A figure said, and let the hood drop, revealing Bandit Kith's blond head, his blue eyes bottomless and unclean.

 

“You will become one of us.”

 

“You will know order.”

 

Two men said consequently and each let his hood drop, revealing the familiar faces of Joey's two best pals…Tristan and Duke.

 

“Duke!” Serenity called in agony “Not you too!! Tristan!!!

 

Now, almost all the hoods were down, and Bakura simply stared, unbelieving and unwittingly startled as he saw all the people they'd met in their journey be revealed. More hoods fell, more faces revealed. Some Bakura didn't recognize, others he did, like those of a few KaibaGuards from KC Base, or the familiar persona of Maximillian Pegasus, the 3D game inventor from Yango. Even he was one of them.

 

But all pretences fell when the last of the cloaked people dropped their hoods, only to reveal a familiar bald head and darkened, blanc green eyes. But it was not only Rishid- it was Rika, and Lena, and Taichi, and Kenji too. Each and every one of them: a soulless walking zombie. A puppet of the puppet-master, whose strings were gold and had a glowing eye on them.

 

And in the background of all this, Marik's screams of “Why?” could be heard. How he must feel, Bakura wondered, now that he saw his brother betray him by standing in the ranks of the enemy. Now that Rishid was there…what would Marik think or do? Most importantly, what would Bakura do? Bakura, who had to think for both of them now.

 

Now only two people remained hooded. The Leader and his `father'. What was happening…why? What was that Rod? Bakura didn't know, but he understood it was time to act instead of talk. Now was the time to show what he always believed in: power.

 

Not thinking before he acted, Bakura lunged at the leader, attempting to grab the Golden Rod, which was still pointed at Marik. But when he made to move, he saw the leader turn the Rod towards him and at once, he felt pain- pain unlike anything he'd ever felt before, threatening to split his cranium in two and spill his brains out to the stone floor. It was what he felt when Marik ordered him to do something, only a hundred times harsher.

 

He fell to the floor with a thud, not believing what was happening and how he could be defeated so easily by one single tin stick. He made to stand up, but realized that he couldn't. Some unearthly will was holding him back.

 

Well, at least the Rod was now turned toward him and not Marik, he thought, somewhere in the back of his defiled mind. At least Marik wasn't hurting any more…

 

“You control it flawlessly, young one.” The hooded father said, taking a step forward, towards Bakura and Marik, who were fallen one above the over, like a pile of trash thrown to the garbage. “I don't have anything else to teach you…you're powerful enough. The holograms are the hardest it can get to control.” He said, and from the side, Bakura heard Serenity ask what he meant, but the father didn't answer.

 

Suddenly, from the side was heard a voice, familiar and cold- a cruel baritone to match all the others. “Good job, Ishrat. The Masters will be pleased.” Bakura and Marik didn't know who the newcomer was, since they couldn't see him from their position, but they did see the leader's father turn towards the voice. And then, all their confusion was solved by Serenity's screech, high and horrified: “KAIBA!!!”

 

“You were right after all…” Kaiba told the Ishrat father half-bitterly, half-amusedly as he walked into Bakura and Marik's line of vision. The moment he saw Kaiba, Marik remembered, through his hazy consciousness, how much he didn't miss him. The long, unchanged silver trenchcoat. The leather buckles on the arms. The tall boots and the icy eyes. The almost plastic-like hair, always flawlessly adjacent to the head…Kaiba never changed, did he? Not even a little. “They are predictable.” He finished his sentence and sent an amused glare at the lying Marik.

 

“What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

 

Marik really wanted to spit at him, but he knew the rules of gravity would defy him. Besides, he didn't have the stamina to do it.

 

“Kill him now.” Kaiba told the leader with the Rod.

 

“Easy Kaiba.” The leader said “You're not the one who gives the orders around here” he said, and turned the golden Rod towards the tall man, making him gasp and clutch at his head “I am.”

 

“Yes…yes….” Kaiba started muttering and stepped back into the ranks of the other cloaked figures, not daring to raise his eyes. Marik had to admit, it was highly unnerving watching Kaiba behave like that. The man who held the Rod must have been really powerful, if he could control Kaiba like that. Nevertheless, to his credit, Kaiba didn't behave exactly like all the other zombie mind-slaves…he was somehow strangely different…he seemed more conscious of what he was saying and doing.

 

Meanwhile, by turning the Rod towards Kaiba, the leader had unwittingly released Bakura, who lost no time in pouncing at the tall man, struggling to knock the Rod away from his hands, only to succeed in pulling at the man's cloak and earning a flash of gold before being pulled away be the other `Rare Hunters'.

 

And then, the torture of the Rod was back, but this time, it was accompanied by the faraway screams of Serenity, Tea and Yugi alike. He wanted to ask them why they were screaming and what they were saying, he wanted to know what had happened, but when he opened his eyes, all he could see was blackness and pain.

 

And then, there was a scream from his right, and he realized Marik was screaming too. He wondered what was happening, and struggled to clear his vision, trying to understand what was going on, just to help Marik, if not for anything else. Now he heard Serenity and Tea whimper, and he recognized distant mutters, as though they were whispering something he couldn't hear.

 

“Well, this may prove troublesome” the leader's voice commented dryly, and Bakura almost laughed out his derisiveness “I didn't want to reveal my identity unless absolutely necessary…but it's all right. You'll all die here, anyway.” And to these words he laughed cruelly, his insane guffaw ringing in Bakura's ears. Finally, Bakura realized why everyone was screaming. It was the leader's face that had startled them- the face he had revealed by pulling down the leader's hood yet never got a chance to see. Now, even more than before, Bakura fought to regain his vision and stop the echoes of laughter from driving him crazy.

 

“You never were a right one.” He heard the leader's voice say, and more screams wrung from the distance “Right clones never have memories….but you did, didn't you? You were all wrong, from the disgusting moment you were born, till the moment you will finally die…”

 

Marik's hoarse cries followed, and Bakura realized it was the tanned boy the leader had been talking to.

 

“Why couldn't you just suck it up and die when you were supposed to?! HUH??!” the leader's voice was now getting high, crazed and incredibly familiar to Bakura's ears. He'd heard that desperate crying voice before…he knew who it belonged to…he knew…

 

“But don't worry…You will die…You were a parasite all along. Father was wrong in his judgment to let you live, but I'll make that mistake right…When a clone is flawed, he must be thrown apart, like garbage…And that's exactly what you are: flawed- a flawed replica. So I must finish what my father started…I'm the one who should do it…I was born to do it all along: to take your place, and succeed where you never could…You've been searching for your memory, right? You want to know your destiny,,,right? Make Nehti live again, isn't that what you want!? Well too bad, brother, because the Fates have already cut your thread!!”

 

And then, finally, Bakura managed to open his eyes and see. And see he did, for the face of his dreams was hovering above him, a foreign crazed gleam shining in the lilac eyes. The face that kept his ring warm during the dark nights, the face he'd spent hours studying and observing…the beautiful, cherubic face, framed by hair of the finest platinum and with eyes of the most expensive amethyst.

 

Of course he knew that voice. How could he not, when he so often dreamt about it singing his name in the cries of passion? He knew the face that was hovering above him, a flawless replica of the one that twisted in pleasure when appearing in his dreams.

 

Marik's face. Marik's face, behind the Leader's Rod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a/n: WOOOOOAHHH!!! I believe we're getting somewhere!! Major plot bunny in this chappy, guys, as you probably realized. I'm finally over the god-damn writer's block. Well, see you next week, when I'll hopefully post the next chapter!!

 

But no worries, coz now I'm on vacation, and I'm gonna make it up to you the best I can!! Every Sunday there will be an update from now till the end of the summer. Rewind 1 will be finished this summer, if it's the last thing I'll do!!!!-gets glossy determined shine in her eyes-

 

 

I especially liked this chapter. I think it portrays the character's of the novel's heroes in the right way. If there's one thing I love it's writing Bakura. Oh my God, I LOVE writing about Bakura's emotions, and how absolutely intricate and feral they are.