Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Rewind 1 ❯ Code R8 ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Nehti

Shut forever in their dark tomb, only death awaits our heroes. Now hundreds of rabid pursuers will awaken, brought from straight from hell to extingusih even their last hope.

Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.06.2005 | Pages: 32 | Words: 36.5K | Visits: 267 | Status: Completed

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS INEXPLICIT DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE. THIS IS NOT FOR THE WEAK HEARTED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. There is also a warning for bad language, but nothing that hasn't been used before.

Okay, so lessee…In this chappy, we have cussing, violence, some gore and stuff, no adult themes…but! We also have action! Pay attention to Serenity and how active she's become! Watch how Bakura is actually now fraternizing with more than one person at a time! See how Marik goes through multiple fits of jealousy!

I used to be insecure about this chap like always, but then I reread and thought : ` that's the best I can do. If they don't like it, so be it! ' So take some water or a frozen coke or whatever it is you like to drink/munch on/ play with while you read (then again, you might just not want to do any of those things and you just want to read: congratulations! You are reserved, unlike me!) and start the R and R baba!!

“Now give me your Ring. We'll be together soon.” The blond man in front of Bakura finished steadily, his face gathering up to its usual matter-of-fact expression. Bakura nodded, smiling at the one he adored with all his heart. He presented the ring and held it there, in the air between them, while Marik mirrored his smile and reached out.

Bakura's heart was threatening to explode, beating harder and harder until there was nothing else he could focus on. A real body. His body. Marik's mesmerizing lavender eyes spelled it to him clearly: they'd be alive, together. To be able to live and -finally- die together.

How could God have smiled upon one so damned, Bakura wondered. Not once did he doubt Marik's words, or believed Marik was lying to him. No, Bakura believed it whole-heartedly, mainly because he wanted to believe it, but partially because of the flashbacks that came when he'd seen the body.

This really was his body. And if Marik was right and Bakura's brainwaves could be transferred back to his original body…then he'd practically come back to life again.

Marik's tanned fingers were just an inch away from the ring now, an eager look lighting his lilac eyes. Bakura smiled inwardly. Marik must really be looking forward to Bakura's resurrection. Marik was looking at the ring with an inconceivable gleam of mirth sparkling in his eyes, which Bakura was too distracted to detect.

“That's it…You'll see, everything will be okay…” the hypnotizing husky voice reassured once more, and the sound of it reverberated rigidly through Bakura's senses, trapping his logic in a whirlpool of emotion.

Marik didn't stretch his hand to grab the golden item. It was Bakura who was actually pushing it to a smiling Marik's waiting hands, all the time accompanied with Marik's constant praises and reinsurements.

Marik's fingers touched the edge of the ring- Bakura could feel the energy emanate from the other man- and Marik was just about to take it in his hands, when-

BANG!

The silver headed albino could only watch, red eyes completely wide open in surprised shock, as Marik's unconscious body wilted lifelessly and fell to the floor. Bakura was too startled to catch him and simply stared at the tanned man's fallen body for a few moments, until he finally regained his senses and fully registered who he had seen standing behind Marik when the boy had fallen.

“Wheeler?” Bakura asked in complete disbelief as he watched the girl's labored panting. He noticed that in her right hand she was holding the metal pole -probably one she'd found on the floor, somewhere- that she'd used to hit Marik's head with.

When she didn't answer him, he grabbed her shirt and fisted his hands in it, forcing her to look at him “What the fuck do you think you're doing?? That was Marik!!”

Serenity wiggled out of his grasp and shook her head, annoyed. Wasting no time, she threw the metal shaft away and focused on Bakura. “No Bakura. Question is, what the fuck do you think you're doing!” she answered in his own words, looking more frustrated than the albino had probably ever seen her. Had Bakura been in his logical state of mind at that point, he'd have noticed that that had been the first and probably last time he'd ever heard Serenity Wheeler curse.

Worriedly, Bakura bent down and cradled Marik's knocked out body, running his hands soothingly through the silky platinum hair and turning back to glare at Serenity “What the hell did you do that for?”

Serenity rolled her eyes at him pointedly, then bent down to crouch near Marik.

“No! Get away from him! I knew it was fishy you understood so much about Kuru Eruna in the first place. You're with them aren't you?” Bakura accused her bitterly, holding Marik's head “And now Marik has to be the first victim of-“

“Hold ON, you idiot!” Serenity snapped, not realizing she'd just cursed a dangerous dark demon she'd been mostly afraid of ever since she'd met. To her credit, Bakura had been humanized enough at this point so as to not even notice.

“That's not Marik!” she simply said, pointing a derisive finger at Marik's form, which was spread over Bakura's lap.

Bakura glared at her “ You think that's a plausible excuse, woman? Well try harder, before I strangle you with my bare hands!!” he barked at her, so she lost no haste in proving her point. She quickly dropped to where Marik was lying and hastily reached to Marik's fisted left hand.

“Would Marik ever stab you?” she asked the rhetorical question, providing Bakura with a full view of the small knife she'd revealed was clenched in Marik's hand. Bakura stared at it in what could have been considered awe, then turned to Serenity in a heartbeat.

“Are you crazy? That doesn't prove anything! Marik could be holding a knife for any reason! Have you forgotten where we are?” Bakura barked at her, all the time glaring at her fiercely enough to make her head hurt.

“Seems you've forgotten where we are, Bakura! Don't you remember there are people in this place who look exactly like Marik?” she asked him, silencing him for a brief moment, before he fervently retorted.

“He is Marik! Look at the bite on his neck! It must be him!” He turned Marik's unconscious body in his arms to provide her with a full view of the man's bruised neck.

“Oh yeah?” Serenity inquired, totally losing her temper now “Well how about this?” she yelled and took out a white handkerchief from one of her pockets. As quickly as she could, and moving very pointedly for Bakura to see, she put the cloth over Marik's neck and wiped at it.

And there, before Bakura's fury-dilated, suddenly fully alarmed eyes, the love-mark gave way to the cloth's cleansing attributes, and `Marik's' neck had suddenly become wonderfully clean, sans bruises and marks of any kind.

“I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book! And to think it was you of all people! You dark fiend wannabe! ” Serenity scolded him, producing her hanky and showing Bakura the purple-pink paint that was splayed on its white surface. That had been the bite on Marik's neck. Paint.

A very intense sense of dread suddenly attacked the albino's senses.

Bakura was unspeaking, staring first at the body that now seemed alien in his arms and then to the treacherous purple paint on Serenity's hanky. And to think he'd…oh, god, he'd…oh no!!! What had he been thinking? Or more to the point, with what had he been thinking?

The man in his arms…he looked exactly like Marik. Exactly. Down to the last soft-surfaced, clear-cut nail, he was Marik! Therefore, it could only be one man…it could only be…the Leader of the GOULS! Bakura now let the body in his lap slip to the floor, uncaring what happened to the slimy impostor. He was actually planning multiple painful ways of execution by now.

“I…I…How did you…? “ Bakura started trying to explain and ask for explanations at the same time, so Serenity turned away and wiped none-existent dirt form her hands while she told him her point of view in the story.

“Did you really think I'd just sit there and wait for you like an idiot?” Serenity asked him, and Bakura thought he should have seen that coming. “I followed you a little after you took off! I got lost in the corridors a few times, but when I heard voices I finally knew which way to go!” she explained at his startled face.

Bakura was suddenly struck down by a sense of imposing dread. How much…had she seen? She was smart enough to understand…if she'd seen…

“I never knew this place existed “ she waved her hands around the room to accentuate her point “until I saw you guys walk in here from the corridor. To tell you the truth, I arrived just in time to see you get in here.”

Phew. Bakura supposed that was a good thing, since she probably hadn't seen his little…encounter with…with the god-damn Clone!!

“How…how much did you see or hear in here?” Bakura asked, carefully evasive but trying not to show his reluctance. She dragged her eyes to his face slowly.

“Why? What are you afraid I saw?” Serenity asked, in a tone that suggested pure sadism. Bakura had to give her credit for that, at least. He didn't know she had it in her.

“I'm not afraid, mortal. Just curious.” Bakura hautily rebutted, his nose stuck snobbishly high in the air, his red eyes not without a proud, scornful tinge.

“Well, in that case, I think it's safe to say…” Serenity said, now clearly avoiding his eyes “I saw enough.”

Bakura didn't want to show his uncomfortable disappointment, but he couldn't help it if a sliver of it showed in his eyes.

“Oh.” He simply said, fully aware that he'd probably put on a good show with what would probably be his once-in-a-life-time confession to Marik, who wasn't even there to hear it! Instead, a mortal woman had been there to witness Bakura's utter humiliation. Serenity- the very person Marik had been so anxious to hide this from!

Heavy silence fell between them for a few minutes, neither of them daring to say anything and intensify this suffocating discomfort they were in.

“Um..” Serenity finally started, mock-disinterestedly, staring at everything around the room but Bakura. “So…uh…that's your real body, huh?” she asked, pointedly looking at the crow-haired man floating behind Bakura's back. The albino turned and stared longingly at the pale skin and wiry body.

“Yeah…that's…me” he simply said, still unable to fully register and accept it. Serenity nodded and approached. When she was close enough to Bakura, her eyes subtly slipped from him to the floating body and back.

“Well, for the record…” she started, a gentle pink hue growing on her cheeks “You were very…um…good-looking…” and she turned away from the man on display.

Bakura felt something warm wrap around his guts, and it helped distract him from the discomfort of Serenity's knowing about his relationship with Marik. He just looked at the body, sighed wordlessly, and nodded in accordance. In the end, he thought bitterly, he still hadn't gotten what he wanted. He still couldn't be alive…with Marik.

Then again, what had Bakura been thinking with that stupid confession of his? Maybe it was better this way…better if Marik never knew about Bakura's feelings at all... Marik himself was so much more inhibited with his emotions than the clone had been, so he probably wouldn't have accepted a love confession the way the clone had... Bakura was sure Marik would never…Marik was so hard to get to… But when one got to him, it was well worth the effort, Bakura thought with another sigh.

“You know…” the girl suddenly said, looking everywhere except in his eyes “we still have some time…if you want to try…I mean, how difficult could it be?” Serenity ranted, not really making sense. But Bakura understood what she was offering. She was willing to try to revive him.

The albino started thinking about it. Would it be okay? Could he trust her? God, he'd almost trusted the Leader -at this thought, Bakura kicked the leader's unconscious form- he could surely trust the woman who hadn't even complained about his relations to Marik…

Surely he could…

“Oh no!” a thought suddenly hit him, and he whirled to the girl urgently “What time is it?” he asked, realizing all of a sudden that if the person on the floor was Marik's imitation, then he didn't know where the real Marik was!

Serenity caught on immediately, looking at her watch “Oh no!” she gasped “It's well past the meeting time! Do you think they're okay? Maybe they've come looking for us!”

The mere suggestion that Marik could be somewhere Bakura didn't know of, and probably unsafe, without the Rod, was enough to drive the albino overload.

“Come on! We're leaving!! Splitting up in two was a stupid idea after all…we have to hurry-” Bakura urged and took one of the girl's wrists in his palm, dragging her along. But she rooted her heels to the floor, refusing to walk further.

“No Bakura!!” she started “Don't you see? We have to do this now, or else we may never find this chamber again!! You'll never get the chance to live again!! We have to-“ Serenity was saying, but Bakura silenced her by grabbing her by the elbow and hauling her to the imperceptible crack on the wall. That moment was probably the hardest of his entire life. The spiritual power it demanded to deny his primal need was draining him completely. Only one thought kept him rigid in his decision.

“We have to get to the others! What if Marik's in trouble?” he asked hoarsely, trying to swallow down the lump that had grown in his throat, all of a sudden. He pushed the protesting girl through the wall and stepped in himself, only to look back one last time at the body of the black-haired man, still floating in the water, long hair waving like black velvet, daring to ensnare him.

Knowing that if he kept staring he'd never want to leave, he turned around and with a curse at all his bad luck, squeezed out of the room, leaving it to its ever-present occupants and the unconscious Leader.

Whatever happened, Bakura knew, the bodies in the water would still be there, like illuminated statues in the dark. Just like they had been for centuries.

Sleeping in the silence.

Marik couldn't believe his eyes. First his entire world was chaos, then it was heaven. Serenity appeared, metallic pole in hand. Before Marik had fully registered what was going on, the clone 290 was flat on the floor, Bakura staring at Serenity as though she was crazy.

`If only he knew…' Marik kept thinking, now slightly placated but still anxious as he stared at the screen above them.

“I can't believe it!” the hooded clone 288- Ishrat- roared from nearby. Marik inwardly grinned “The idiot! Must I do everything by myself?!” he barked and reached in his cloak for what could only be a weapon.

Marik, utterly delighted by this outcome, could not stay quite so happy for much longer. The rage began to awaken inside him once more. Now that he'd made sure Bakura was safe, it was time to put some people in their proper place.

“YOU!” Marik yelled, sending a blinding wave of brain-power at Ishrat, making the man bend painfully to the floor, dropping the phazer-gun he'd drawn out from his cloak. Unfortunately, though, Yugi was also in the vicinity, and that could only mean that he was also crushed by Marik's mental hit. Seeing his friend's torture, Marik drew back, deciding instantly that perhaps it would be better this way, if he got to pound Ishrat and destroy him with his own two hands and not with his brain!!

“I' ll make you pay…For all you've done!!” Marik yelled, drawing back mentally and reaching out to Yugi's hunched form in order to grab Yugi's steel weapon.

“Hurting me is one thing, but threatening my friends is another! I won't forgive you!” Marik roared, brandishing the weapon at a rapidly recovering Ishrat.

“FINE!” Ishrat yelled, taking a defensive stance upon seeing Marik's offense “Show me what you' ve got, then, junior!” he finished, running towards Marik at the same time the boy collided with him. Yugi finally came back to his senses, only to see Marik and Ishrat engaged in a heated fist-fight. Quickly deciding a course of action, Yugi didn't think about his strategy that much, for once, since he blindly attacked as well, with his bare hands.

Marik thrust a knee upwards, but Ishrat maneuvered round it, landing a solid hit on the other's collarbone. Just then, Yugi sent his heel to Ishrat's back, pushing the man forwards and making him stagger. Marik got his chance to jam his foot around Ishrat's and tried to send the side of his palm to the other's neck, in what was a flawless death-hit.

But Ishrat wasn't as weak as he seemed, since he managed to predict the move and duck in time to miss the hit, instead shaking Marik off and landing a punch at the other's stomach.

“Aargh!” Marik shouted, as he was forced to the floor, where he found his discarded metal tool. He grabbed it without delay and stood back on his feet. Yugi fell to the floor with a bloody jaw, and Marik resolved to help him immediately after he got rid of Ishrat, once and for all.

“Now I'll show you!!” Marik roared, letting the steel rod roll around his fingers in practiced ease. But Ishrat unexpectedly whirled around- long cloak blocking Marik's vision temporarily. When he turned back to Marik, he had the phazer gun in his hands.

Marik tried to back off, but he was too late.

“ARGH!” Marik yelled in pain as he felt the tissues on his shoulder rip and vaporize. Ishrat had managed to cause him pain once more. “FUCK!” he shouted, and tried to recover his scorched shoulder, the pain of which was reaching unbelievable levels. “FUCK!!!”

He felt the heel of a foot hit his chest and force him to lie on the floor. Ishrat's foot started squeezing his throat, choking him. “Idiot!” the elder man sneered “Give me my Rod!” he demanded, and Marik really was grateful he'd given the god-damn contraption to Bakura. It would have been unsafe with him all along.

“Give it to me or I'll kill you” Ishrat simply said, now bringing the laser above Marik's head.

“Why don't you kill me and take it? Are you really that stupid?” Marik challenged, struggling to breathe through his hazy pain.

Ishrat looked indecisive for a second, a million emotions passing through his face “I would….if you'd let me!!” Ishrat barked, now letting the phazer drop in order to hold his head, which Marik was trying to dominate past the point of no return!

“AARGH!” both Yugi and Ishrat roared, as Marik stood up slowly, trying to recover his wound. He picked up Ishrat's phazer and slowly aimed it at the man himself, just as he finally allowed his mind-control to subside.

“Now, old man” Marik started, with a hazy grin breaking through his dark face “there's no mercy.” And he started to pull the trigger, feeling redemption finally knock his door. To avenge his sister by killing her murderer- if only just her murderer's face- and simultaneously killing Ishrat, the man who'd made Marik's life hell….what Marik had always wanted…

To haunt the ghosts of his dark. To prove he was stronger. To face his fear.

Marik had sinned in his life: he'd killed before, ended life. Most of the lives he'd taken were possibly innocent, and he'd burn in hell for their extinction. But this life -Ishrat's life- was one of those few…those few lives that was not meant to end tragically and emotionally. Ishrat's existence was raw and hurtful, and it deserved to be ended that way.

For Marik. For Bakura. For all those victims of Kuru Eruna. Another sacrifice would rise- tonight, once again, the fires of death would light the Village of the Dead. Revenge. Revenge and atonement. Final satisfaction. After all these centuries of torment, Marik believed he deserved it.

“Marik wait!! NO!!!” Yugi shouted desperately, once he saw what Marik was about to do and where Ishrat was standing “Marik, NO! You'll hit the-“

But the sound of the laser being released verified Marik was too lost in the lust for revenge to listen. The laser beam passed thinly through Ishrat's torso, exactly at the spot of his heart, stilling it forever.

“Goodbye, Father.” Marik said, hovering over Ishrat's fallen body, which had crystal lilac eyes becoming glassy and still, while incoherent crashing sounds echoed from around. But Marik didn't hear. All he could focus on was that this hateful part of his life was over. Part of the reason why he'd been practically resurrected in Eruna was over. He'd taken revenge.

But…still.

Somehow.

It wasn't enough.

The hate and the pain wouldn't go away. Not even after Ishrat's death.

Marik felt like screaming.

“NOOO!!!” Yugi yelled, at the top of his lungs, as he saw the inevitable chain reaction. The laser beam, powerful and irreversible as it was, went right through Ishrat, as expected, and hit the central pillar of the clone room full-force. Marik had been basking in the glory of his long-postponed revenge, so he was too distracted to notice at the time. But Yugi had seen…he'd seen…

“Warning. System overload. Warning. System overload. Code R8. Warning. Code R8. Engaging emergency sequence.” The computerized voice chimed in its monotonous voice, just as the control panel in the central pillar was thrashed in a thousand pieces, hit by Marik's laser beam.

“Oh shit,….” Yugi whispered, his eyes wide and unblinking, staring anxiously at the pillar, just as his worst fears were starting to become verified. The clone cocoons turned fiery orange from lethargic blue.

“Emergency shut down. Emergency shut down. Initailizing…” the computer kept saying, and both Yugi and Marik turned to see the door behind them snap open.

What the? Wasn't the place shutting down? Why were the doors opening instead? What was going on? Marik, now significantly alarmed, took a step back simultaneously with Yugi. Both were staring, equally terrified, at the reddened clone capsules. The tubes that ran through the room started lowering the highest capsules to the floor. And there, one by one…they started to…to…

Hatch.

“Fuck.” Marik said, taking as many steps back as he could, making sure to holster the phazer gun in his belt. He'd be probably needing it.

“Well, fearless leader…I must say…Not even that sorry excuse of an underhanded robber could've managed to screw up this bad!” Yugi scowled at the tanned boy, picking the metal stick up from the floor and watching, aghast, as one set of hazy blue eyes started to awaken after the other.

“Emergency shut down. Code R8. Security alert. Security alert. Number 291 activated. Number 292 activated. Number 293 activated. Number…” the computer voice when on and on, never stopping the numbers. One by one, the capsules were lowered to the floor. One by one Marik saw himself wake up, sticky and slimy, from the depths of the prison.

But these clones weren't frightened or terrorized as he had been when he had awoken. They were rigid. Sure of themselves. They knew exactly what they were doing, where they were going. They were marching. Against the invaders. Against Marik, and Yugi…Against all of them.

Their number was growing with every passing second, turning from dozens to hundreds within minutes, and they kept awakening still.

“Number 432 activated. Number 433…” the computer was saying, just as Marik and Yugi were stepping backwards, fully aware of what they had gotten themselves into.

“Oh shit…”

“This is not good…”

“Definitely not good…” the friends were telling each other in whispered tones, as thousands of similar sets of eyes glared at them ferally, like wolves surrounding prey. Marik belatedly realized that these clones hadn't received the initiation yet, which meant that their brainwaves were not synchronized with his. They could not be controlled by the Rod. Consequently, Marik couldn't mess with their brains.

Well shit.

“I won't…I can't hurt kids…” ethical Yugi said, watching more and more add up to the grand total of predators; eyes glaring and flaring at the sight of Ishrat's motionless corpse, which morphed a rigid mass on the ground.

“These aren't kids.” Marik responded, his voice shaky at seeing himself copied so many times over, staring at him with that look and recognizing it instantly “They're murderers!”

“Oh, come on! They're so small! How could they harm us?” Yugi hissed, although not even for a moment did he stop backing out of the room.

“Yugi…do you know which animal can effortlessly kill a cockroach? And remember: cockroaches are the most resistant out of all insects.” Marik asked, a mock-light tone in his voice as he backed away “the answer is ants. Because cockroaches are huge compared to them, and when ants climb on them and eat them from the inside….cockroaches can't wave them off.”

Yugi stayed silent for a few seconds. “Point taken.” He simply said, and didn't think he'd doubt the glares he was receiving ever again. After all, Marik knew what his younger self was capable of, and Yugi didn't want to be the cockroach of this story.

“I say we make a dash for it.” Marik whispered as he saw the clones looking at each other and nodding mysteriously, as though deciding on general consensus.

“They know the halls better than we do.” Yugi filled in, and the spark of hope started dying in Marik's heart. “Then we better hurry!” the tanned man yelled suddenly, and grabbed his friend's elbow, sprinting as fast as his wound would allow him towards the main hall. Oh this was paranoid! This was completely, utterly paranoid! All from his own god-damned stupidity!!!! If only he hadn't shot Ishrat and had been a little more patient with his bloodlust!!

“Emergency shut down.” The computer was repeating over and over, and Marik thought it was logical that the system had broken down so easily, being as it was very old-fashioned. As they ran down the hall, a stampede of footsteps was heard echoing behind them. As a stroke of luck, though, now that there was supposedly an emergency in Kuru Eruna, red flashing lights were shining in all the corridors, helping Marik and Yugi find their way. After all, let's not forget that the thousands of clones persuing them outnumbered them ten thousand to one, were better acquainted with Kuru Eruna and were perfect scouts.

Back to the main hall they ran, and back to the walking zombies. Kaiba was still standing there, as still as a statue when Marik and Yugi practically jumped in the room, where the symbols on the walls now glowed red.

“Oh shit! Now where do we go?” Yugi asked, panting, as his eyes flew from one lit corridor to the other.

“We have to find the others!” Marik said, frantically thinking that he had to find out if Bakura was all right. And Serena. I've got to find Bakura, he thought. He'll know what to do!! Marik didn't even realize his way of thinking now resembled that of a five year-old seeking his father, believing that grownups- or in this case Bakura- knew everything and could magically solve any problem.

“This way!” he shouted at Yugi and started running towards the corridor Bakura and Serenity had entered before. Meanwhile, the sounds of the running clones were intensified tenfold in their ears.

But as they ran towards the corridor, Marik realized it was…blocked. A black, rusty metal door was drawn over it, not allowing anyone to go through! So that's what the computer had meant when it said `Emergency lock down'! But why only this corridor and not the others? What was in this corridor that was so important that it had to be kept safe at all costs?

“There they are!” a juvenile voice was suddenly heard, and Yugi and Marik turned to see a clone pointing at them, and hordes of others running towards them from across the grand room. Luck seemed to be on their side, Marik thought, since the roving bodies of the zombie GOULS prevented the clones from approaching in great quantities. Some of them were even warded off by the Rare Hunters because of approaching them!

“What do we do? Can we climb on a vent?” Yugi shouted as he covered Marik from the small but deadly hands of the few clones that had approached them “Do the corridors connect in some way? Could we get to them through a different door?” Yugi continued, while a near-frantic Marik kept pounding on the door.

“Where is the Rod?” one of the clones asked with a yell.

“Invaders!” another filled in “You're not the ones who should give us the Initiation!”

Marik was honestly confused at why some ten-year-old kid would be agonizing over going through that, but he thought it better not to question the nature of the clones.

“I know!” an idea hit him suddenly, and immediately he whipped out the trusty laser gun he had used to rid the world of Ishrat once and for all. Wasting no time, he aimed it at the door.

“Well hurry, coz I was never good at babysitting!” Yugi yelled, but his voice was strangled through a thousand yelps and shouts. The clones were growing more violent and murderous with every passing minute. They used only their bare hands, but they used them so viciously that most of them had bloodied their nails already. Even those who couldn't reach Yugi and Marik would claw at one another, as though they were vultures lusting for fresh blood. A clone got to Marik, just as he was trying to melt a hole through the door. He had to kick and restrain the small offender, while the psychotic child clawed at him and tried to bite him.

“You little shit!” Marik finally yelled, unable to take it anymore, and landed a fist at the young boy's stomach. It still felt bad to hit a kid, but not so much when said kid had managed to scratch your already wounded hand and bite at it brutally enough to destroy the flesh.

“It's done!” Marik shouted over the screams and yells. He lunged in through the hole he had created with his laser, and beckoned for Yugi to follow him. The spiky-haired boy stepped carefully backwards and tried to make his way through the door, endeavoring simultaneously not to hurt himself with the still-burning edges of the mutilated door, but not to let the clones hurt him either.

“Come ON!” Marik yelled, and grabbed Yugi's arm, pulling the boy inside with one sudden tug at his arm. Yugi yelped, but recovered soon enough. The two friends started running as fast as their legs could carry them through the red-lit corridor, Marik straining his hurt shoulder. Meanwhile, through the laser-made hole on the door, one by one, the clones started fitting through, like ants spreading out from an anthill.

Yugi and Marik encountered another door, and this time Marik lost no time in whipping out the laser and making a path. They walked through it, always conscious of the clones' footsteps becoming louder behind them.

Until they opened a third hole through a door, and walked straight inside a green-lit corridor, adorned by thousands of capsules, each one hosting a different Sleeper. Yugi stared at them, aghast and unbelieving. Marik, who had already seen them once, didn't want to observe them again. Insistently, he tugged on a flabbergasted Yugi's arm and forced the other to run forward. And so, they both ran.

Faster and faster, between the unperturbed sleeping bodies. Once more, Marik felt they were sneering at him. Once more, he thought they would wake up and haunt him. The bite on his forearm, which he had received from a clone, was starting to sting. A lot! God-damn zombie-clone-kids these days. And speaking of kids, they were still after the two of them, gaining on them.

Marik, hurt as he was, was forced by Yugi to go faster, through more corridors, always in a straight line in an effort not to get lost.

Marik wondered if he'd ever find Bakura. Would this nightmare ever end? Or was it already too late?

In the halls of Eruna, desperation was always a familiar way out.

“What's happening?” Serena gasped in a frightened voice, as she heard and saw the doors around them slam shut. She hadn't even realized that doors still existed in this place. Apparently, she was wrong. Even though they were probably as old as time itself, the doors were still sturdy.

“…I don't know.” Bakura said, glaring at the surroundings. They'd just come out of the room where Bakura's body was, only to see green lights, Sleepers…everything they'd expected to see, save for the alarms of the computerized voice in the megaphones and the heavy doors that had fallen over the passageways. Had they been discovered? Was this another one of Ishrat's games?

Most importantly, where the hell were Yugi and Marik?

“Emergency shut down. Emergency shut down. “ the computer was saying, and Bakura glared at the horizon. “What the hell is the big emergency?” he spat, turning around feverishly.

“Marik may be in trouble! We have to get out of here!” Serenity concluded, looking around for any means of escape.

“No shit!” Bakura sneered at her, and she glared.

“Hey, at least I'm trying! Got any better ideas, genius?” Serenity shouted in an annoyed tone. God, this man! How could Marik stand him?

Bakura ignored the question, his eyes darting around the corridor for signs of an escape route,.,,Ahaaa…he thought, as he spotted what he'd been looking for. The ventilation shaft which brought air to this murky place.

“I might…” he grinned mysteriously, and Serenity turned around to see what he was looking at. Her eyes showed approval, but she still wasn't convinced.

“How do we know it's safe?” she inquired, her eyes narrowed.

“We don't” he answered bluntly, approaching the closest green capsule and attempting to climb on it. Serenity rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She answered “How do we know where it leads?” she questioned.

“We…don't!” Bakura answered with a little strain, as he managed to hang from the top of the capsule, adhering the side of his face to the cold glass. He had come face to face with one of the sleeping near-corpses. It was not a pretty sight from a normal point of view, much less from up close.

“Okaaay…” Serenity pointedly said, as though this proved Bakura was a foolhardy idiot “And how do we know which way to go inside the vents in order to reach the main hall?” she asked.

At this, Bakura grinned from his hanging position. Now he was hanging from the ceiling, trying to reach the vent by using the ceiling as monkey-bars. “Because we have this!” he said, and reached briefly in his pocket. He took out something like a paper and threw it at Serenity's feet. Then he resumed his climbing.

“What's this? I didn't know you read.” Serenity idly commented, as she bent to take hold of the fallen pamphlet-like paper.

“You're right. I don't.” Bakura answered, finally reaching the edge of the vent and trying to force the rusty thing open “But I steal.”

Serenity narrowed her eyes, not fully comprehending what he was trying to say. That is, until she unraveled the folded paper and saw the lines and curves drawn on it. “A map!” she gasped, just as Bakura groaned in effort to unleash the vent “Where'd you get this?” she asked in amazement, observing the unfamiliar names of the corridors and the strange lines of different colors. It was all hand-drawn. A map of Kuru Eruna….amazing.

“Where do you think?” Bakura rhetorically asked, as he used all his strength to retain his grip a little longer. A light of understanding dawned upon Serenity's features.

“The Leader of the GOULS!” she excitedly said, as she heard Bakura mutter a low `mm-hmm' in affirmative. Serenity looked at the priceless tool in her hands. If only they'd had this before…Hm. Ironic. Perhaps clones needed maps too, sometimes. After all, this place was huge, and all the corridors looked exactly the same…

Serenity spotted a little red mark in the map, where someone had written `X' on. Above the mark there was a name `Hydro Preservation-Stabilization room'…Hmmm….If that small little space was the room Bakura Nehti's sleeping body was in, then the corridor outside it must have been where they were right now. Thus, they were located in the `H12-J67' corridor. Serenity checked one of the codenames of the sleeping people around her and verified what she had assumed. The names of the corridors were set according to the codenames of the Sleepers. Thus, if they followed the map to the spot that said `A1'…they would find the master mind responsible for this!

But first, they had to find the others. They had to clear up this mess! What was going on with this `emergency' deal? Were the others in trouble?

SLAM! Serenity saw the metallic cover of the vent hit the floor, just as Bakura landed with feline grace beside her. She started sneezing and coughing because of all the dust that was now coming down the vent.

Bakura also sneezed but shook his head and recovered soon enough. He took the map from Serenity's hands.

“We have to get the others” he instructed, and coughed heavily a couple of times. Taking hold of Serena's arm, he passed it over his head and kneeled “Climb onto me.” He instructed, but she refused.

“You go first, then pull me up.” She asked. Huffing and cursing about female obstinacy, Bakura repeated the process of climbing in the vent. Only this time, he climbed inside it, releasing more dust and making Serenity sneeze all over again. In order to crouch around the vent tube, Bakura couldn't see Serenity for a few moments. It only took those moments to hear a terrified shriek come from underneath.

“What's wrong?” Bakura smirked, thinking she'd probably seen a mouse or something. Nevertheless, he hurried as much as he could to see what was going on with her “See a cockroach and got scared?” Bakura sneered. Then he finally managed to pop his head over the vent and see what was happening.

“Indeed, Nehti…She saw a very big cockroach.” The slithery voice said, lavender eyes glowing in the darkness.

Bakura froze. This he had not expected. This he had not foreseen. That the Leader would wake up so fast, he hadn't known…But now it was too late, since clone 290 already had taken out his spare knife, and was holding it over Serenity's throat. Serenity, who was staring up at the albino with eyes narrowed and determined. `Get out' she was telling him `Forget about me'…

But he couldn't do it. And damn, did he hate himself and his recently-acquired conscience!

“Give me the Rod, Nehti, or the girl dies.” 290 said simply, blankly, robotically. There was no crazed emotion, no spark. Just a sense of dutiful assignment.

“I don't have the Rod. Marik does. You know that. ” Bakura calmly answered, shrugging. He wasn't willing to accept even for a moment that he had fallen victim to this man's fey looks. How cliché of him, really!

“Nice try,” 290 answered and tightened his hold on the completely silent girl, who was still staring at the albino with that hard, determined gaze “But I already know where it is.”

Bakura raised his eyebrow at the other “Oh yeah? If you saw it, then why didn't you take it when you had the chance?” he asked the logical question. The other grinned, and this time a serpent's coyness reached his eyes.

“I was sadly too distracted by your ass at that time. Silly of me.” 290 answered bluntly, making Bakura glare and Serenity gasp in surprise at the crude suggestion.

“Too bad you won't get to touch it again.” Bakura lost no beat in saying, his eyes narrowed down to slits.

290 snorted, glaring at the other just as intensely “Don't flatter yourself, fag-boy. I wouldn't rub up to you again if the world depended on it!” he said in a cold voice, making Bakura snort at the furious look in his lilac eyes.

“Thank God. After all, I only ever wanted Marik. Not some slimy, unoriginal, uninteresting clone to give it to me.” Bakura spit out, enjoying the indignant fury in the other's eyes, and his trembling hands. This was good, Bakura thought. If he managed to distract his opponent, he'd be able to immobilize 290 with no trouble…

“How about your precious Marik? He's a clone too, forgot about that?” 290 barked, rage now boiling free in his eyes, startling both Bakura and Serenity with its sudden intensity. 290 had gotten unnecessarily worked up about his, Bakura noticed…too worked up…

“What's he got more that I do?” 290 scathily inquired, in a tone that suggested pure, boiling, uncontained envy and malice combined.

Bakura narrowed his eyes, searching in his mind for the most atrocious thing he could find, but he could only think of one, honest word “A soul.”

This time 290's lightning crystal eyes almost melted their sockets from burning ire. The man tightened the knife over Serenity's throat, alarming Bakura slightly. Suddenly, the fury was wiped out from 290's face, and another expression came. A cold, mocking, self-satisfied one. It was the look of a snake before it shot vitriol.

“You know when I told you Nehti's files were classified?” he started, making Bakura's attention focus immediately. The computer's emergency warnings were muffled now, and only 290's voice mattered. 290 face, which held the expression of someone about to get his own back.

“Well, like with everything else, I lied. Not only was Nehti's file not classified; it was the most notorious case in the entire lab!” He continued briskly with eager eyes, and Bakura grit his teeth at the other's smug smile “Bakura Nehti was indeed brought to Kuru Eruna when he was fifteen years old, but I never told you why. You see, his father worked here, as one of the most prestigious and experienced scientists.”

Bakura's hands turned into fists, thinking that 290 was lying once again. He had to be! Bakura's father…this place…it wasn't possible.

“Apart from a great scientist” 290 continued in his scathing tone “he was also a traitor.” He spit the word out like venom “He wanted to betray what went on in Kuru Eruna to the government. He was righteous, you see. He didn't understand that sacrifices must be made in order to attain immortality!” at these purposely venomous words, he started marking Serenity with his knife, slightly. Bakura waited, shuddering like an ill man, to see where this was going.

“Your father's been making deals, kid…dangerous deals…”

“What was that sound? Who's there?”

“So, in order to silence him once and for all, Kuru Eruna wiped him out. Him and all his family. They raided his house on Earth's surface, raped and murdered his wife…they were planning something along those lines for his son too, but the brat, Nehti, managed to escape.”

“The key is under the rug!”

“What was that sound?”

“Someone's in the house!!”

“Run, don't look back! Run!!”

Bakura gritted his teeth, his nails digging in skin now, Ryou's blood throbbing in his veins.

“I can't fucking believe it! He shot me! The little prick shot me!”

“Ryou…You're the only one I have left…Mom-”

“Fifteen-year-old Nehti ran to his closest relative: his cousin, Ryou. Thus, he carried with him the deaths of Ryou's parents and sister, when Eruna tracked him down in their house . The two boys- you and your cousin- were carried here. A much worse fate was ordained for you than for your parents.” 290 sadistically laughed, making Bakura's blood pump harder, more violently.

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

“Ryou…They're coming…They're coming for us now, so…”

“They conducted experiments on you, altered your body with artificial enhancements, forced chemicals in your veins…They did the same to Ryou, whose hair turned white from physical mutilation. He's not an albino, you see…how could he be, when his eyes are normal brown, and natural albinos have red? Then, they ran genetic tests on both of you, until an experiment went wrong. A formula designed to regenerate cells backfired completely, and instead of younger Ryou became much older than he really was. They altered your memory, put you through brain-“

“AHHHH!!! GET IT OFF ME!! GET IT OFF!!!!”

“Don't you recognize it, Nehti? It's you. “

“MY HEAD!! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO ME??”

“Sick? I'm not the one with the red eyes, Nehti…”

“You must be lonely, boy…miss your dear cousin yet? Beautiful boy he is…but no one can reach your brilliance, can they? You're certainly my most favoritev toy…Haha..hahaha….mwahahahahaha!!!!!!”

“ Sick! You're sick!! All of you!!”

“Ryou….Ryou…what have they done to you….your face…”

“…ALL OF YOU!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME???”

“SHUT UP!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUUP!!!!!” Bakura screamed with finality and launched himself down, letting himself fall on the satisfied- looking 290 and a startled Serenity.

“What's the matter, Nehti? Can't take the truth?” 290 taunted like a demon, while rolling with Bakura on the floor, trying to jam his hand against Bakura's chin.

“At least I'm not a clone! I'm one and only||!” Bakura roared, dragging his opponent in a head-lock and forcing him to stay there for a few moments.

“That's right! You're not even a man! You're a computer simulation!” 290 yelled derisively as he forced his elbow in the other's ribs. Bakura groaned and fell back, so 290 got his perfect chance to grab the Rod from its safe haven in Bakura's clothes.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! AAHAHAHA!!! You ignoramus!! You complete and utter idiot!!” 290 shouted, as his eyes suddenly lit with electric sparks, much like the rest of his body. It was his reaction to the rod. It was nothing like the crazy haze Marik had slipped into before, but it was scary enough.

“Did you really think you could outsmart me?” he roared, forcing the Rod on Bakura and making the albino scream in torment, grabbing his head desperately as though trying to keep it from imploding. “After all, I'm a clone. Right? I've got no soul! RIGHT?”

“AAARGHHHH!!!!” Bakura desperately howled, the crushing pain of the mind-control threatening to pulverize him completely.

“Just tell me this, Bakura! Answer me this and I'll spare your life! Who did you say you love in that room? Me or Marik? Answer me!! Who's the one who showed you the way to live? Huh?” the clone screamed at him, now completely irate.

“Maa…marrik…”Bakura drawled on, rapidly losing his sense of location and existence. Light and colour was becoming one. He couldn't separate reality from dreams.

“DAMN YOU, NEHTI!!!” Marik…or maybe he just looked like Marik…Bakura didn't know any more…But the man was screaming and cursing, saying how much he hated Bakura for all he was worth.

“Get off me you wench!” 290 suddenly screamed at Serenity, who had pounced on him and was trying to make him let go of the Rod. “Get off! You've done enough as it is!” he shouted and forced Serenity to fall flat on the floor with a desperate cry.

“Stop it!!” she shrieked at the crazed Leader of the GOULS “Can't you see you're killing him?” she desperately tried.

“He was dead long ago. I'm just making things right again.” 290 answered coldly, not once reverting his mercilessly angered eyes from the man who was fading under his feet.

“So you'll prove him right?” Serenity dared “Have you no soul?”

At this, the man's head whipped up, trying to deny what she just told him. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again. He was on the verge of saying something, when the computer's voice sounded more urgent than ever in the megaphones.

“Security breached. Code R8. Security breached. Code R8”

Hearing this, clone 290 halted his torturing of Bakura and stood to listen. Upon hearing `Code R8' his eyes widened and the Rod tightened in his hands. Serenity knew she had to take that thing away from him as soon as possible. But how?

“I can't believe it!” 290 said, with a tone of true amazement “What did your friends do to raise Code R8?” he asked the girl, who looked at him in confusion.

The man rolled his eyes in annoyance and explained “Code R8 means that entire Kuru Eruna is under siege. All security clone units are released at once. The doors of the Sleepers shut down…Kuru Eruna locks itself…What have you done?”

At the woman's hesitant shrug, the Leader clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked around, verifying the shut doors. He suddenly started to walk away towards a door.

“Oh no you don't!” a deep voice was suddenly heard, as Bakura jumped up in a flash of silver and disarmed 290 with a fluent move. The clone blinked, startled, but it was already too late. Bakura was behind him, aiming the knifed edge of the Rod at 290's back.

“Now you follow us, you snake, before I initiate my personal ritual of `Termination'. And you know what that means, don't you?” Bakura threatened, forcing the dagger against the clone's back even harder than before.

290 didn't say anything, only stared forward in obvious fury. He was probably hating himself in his head right now. Bakura liked that general idea.

The silver-headed boy grabbed the other's arm and forced him to turn around. Bakura pointed at the ventilation entrance above, while Serenity observed 290 with a scowl.

“Ladies first.” Bakura drawled on, jabbing the clone's back with his Rod-dagger and enjoying every minute of it. 290 turned his head around a little, eyes barely seeing Bakura. The he turned around and glared at absolute nothingness.

“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” came another crude suggestion, but this time Bakura had had enough of it. He grabbed the back of the other's neck, making sure his sharp nails dug in the creamy flesh. The other didn't let out even the slightest flinch, but Bakura knew it must hurt, since blood was coming out in droplets.

“Walk.” The albino simply ordered, golden rod still sharp at the other's back. 290 sighed inconspicuously and took a step forwards. Noa's alerts were still going off around them.

Bakura and Serenity both watched, with narrowed eyes, as 290 jumped and grabbed the vent opening, all the time huffing indignantly. His irritation worsened when he realized he'd have to crawl through the slimy vents, accompanied by two overly irritating nincompoops. He didn't want to think about how his stupid personal feelings had gotten in the way before, when he could've just wiped them both out while he had the time.

One more door down, and the energy reserve of the laser gun would diminish completely. And once that would happen…they'd be left in the mercy of the clones, uncontrolled and on the loose as they were. Marik wondered if any one of them had woken up as confused and afraid as he had ten years ago. Could it be that there was another like him: a complete replica of the original Marik from 600 years ago?

Judging from the screams…

Not bloody likely.

“Quick, they're gaining on us!!” Yugi called over the enraged shouts of more than a hundred galloping children, who had managed to pass quickly enough through all the laser hoops Marik had opened in the metallic doors.

“Tell me something I don't know!!” Marik found the energy to summon a sarcastic comeback, just as they made a mad turn at a corner and came face to face with another locked door.

“Hurry!!” Yugi urged while whipping around and making sure to counterattack all the hits he kept receiving from the young clones that had reached him. Oh yes, Yugi fought with them normally now, as though they were grown men. We had overridden the mentality of `not hitting children' some time ago, since these children appeared to be born with inate ju-jitsu abilities and a fair amount of physical strength above average, even for a fully grown male.

“Done!!” Marik shouted after what seemed like a century to the struggling Yugi. Marik used a brutal hit to kick the door apart.

“Finally!!” Yugi said in glee as he ran through the opening with Marik hot on his heels.

“This thing is no use anymore! No more power left!” Marik tossed away the laser, which found its aim and landed a square hit on one of the clones's heads.

“We need another escape route! This corridor doesn't go on forever!” Yugi complained as he sprinted frantically alongside Marik, his black leather pants squeaking in protest at the usurpation. The spiked black leather coughs around his neck and middle were also threatening to come undone. Overall, this look was decidedly non-Yugi.

Marik knew that if they tried to escape through the vents, the clones would most likely follow them. Besides, when would they find the time required to open up and climb into a vent? The clones would destroy them before they'd even get a chance to think about it. No, there had to be another way. A way to get rid of those little demons altogether!

Just as they were running, far too distracted by their frantic thinking of an alternate escape, they heard an earth shattering sound of metal clashing on metal coming from the far front. Anxious about what horror would be awaiting them next, both friends found themselves caught in a situation where it didn't matter which way you went; possible death was waiting just around the corner, anyway.

Marik, who still felt the personal fulfillment and adrenaline of Ishrat's final destruction coursing through his veins, was the one to take the brave sprint forwards. Red and green light mingled together in the dark corridor, until both the Game King and Marik finally saw what had caused the racket.

The metallic cover of the vent had dropped from the ceiling to the floor, causing the sound to echo all around the abandoned place. But over the fallen vent was standing a man -blonde and chocolate skinned, a complete replica of Marik- who was facing upwards and helping to lower to the floor a woman, who was held from above by a pair of pale hands…

“Oh no!!!” Yugi gasped, trying to catch up to Marik's now frenzied pace, “The clones are coming! We've got to warn them!” he said, immediately recognizing the woman as Serenity and the pale man in the vent as Bakura.

“BAKURA!!!!” Marik screamed at the top of his lungs, causing both Serena and clone 290 to turn and stare at him in alert “Get out of here!! No!! Go back!!!”

“Mariku!!” Bakura's voice was suddenly heard, out of the frame. His silver head suddenly hung down the vent, completely upside down “MARIK!” he shouted in what could only be a deliriously gleeful tone “Are you okay? What-“

Apparently, the endless hordes of blood-covered, gnawing clones that had been after Yugi and Marik finally came to the silver-headed boy's view. 290, who had been glaring at Marik for all he was worth, as if Marik was the vilest insect this world had ever seen, was now alert and completely amazed, seeing for his own eyes what Kuru Eruna had never seen before.

“Oh shit” Bakura said, his red eyes wide and unblinking in disbelief. “Take my hand, get back up here!!” he yelled at Serenity, who desperately grabbed his hand, trying with all her might not to scream and make this situation even more difficult.

“So what now, big boy? Can't control them, can you?” 290 sneered derisively at his identical counterpart, but Marik didn't have the time or the mind to deal with this particular one yet. Ohhhh, Marik would take care of him in due time, all right. This slime had been asking for it all along, trying to mess with the most important person in Marik's life...Marik had a special something for him, but now was not the time.

“I can't hold them back much longer!” Yugi called. Despite Marik's aid, the clones were raising dangerously in number, and both Yugi and his tanned friend had felt scratches and brutal bites mar their skin more than once. And they certainly weren't erotic bites, as Bakura's had been. They were hard and intended to hurt, brutal and guttural. Most clones could be seen with coppery staining the lower part of their jaws. If they hadn't bitten or somehow defiled Marik and Yugi, it was highly possible they had clawed and gnawed on each other, just by their deranged fetish for violence. Splatters of blood had covered the corridor's walls and the Sleeper's glass cocoons by now.

Blood everywhere. On everyone.

“OUCH!!! YOU LITTLE BRAT!!” Yugi roared, kicking a child in an effort to shake it off. But when he kicked one, five others took its place.

“Yugi!! Take my hand!!” Serenity beseeched from the top of the vent, but Yugi had seen red now.

“No! I'm not going anywhere until I get this little twit!!” the challenged Game King roared, throwing punches without looking anymore, since it was mathematically inevitable that his punch would find solid target, no matter where he hit.

“Come on!!” Marik grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him towards the opening of the vent, but Yugi, loaded with energy as he was, automatically sent a punch to Marik's jaw, making the other howl in pain and bend over.

“ARE YOU NUTS? Why the hell did you do that for?” Marik yelled at him, eyeing him in disbelief amongst the chaos. From the side 290 was sniggering. Marik noticed that the grown clone had climbed in the vent, completely safe from enemy attacks. Snivelling little coward.

“Sorry!!!” Yugi kept saying, trying to see if Marik was okay through his punching spree “I'm just so used to seeing your face everywhere and hitting it…” to accentuate his point, he struck down a young clone boy who was trying to make his way to them.

“Well not this Marik's face!!!” Marik protested, trying to kick at children and cradle the growing bump on this -already broken and now bleeding- nose at the same time.

“I can't take this anymore!!” someone shouted from atop the vent all of a sudden, and Marik saw a flash of silver white jump on his left. Bakura descended like a hurricane, golden Rod drawn out and already shopping off random parts of the offenders' anatomy.

Finally, Bakura thought, the proper part of this stupid Rod was being used.

“WOMAN!” the albino roared at Serenity, whilst Marik tried to aid him in fighting the clones, who were now dispersing and yelling in terror- afraid of the albino's lethal weapon. “Drag her highness up! And YOU” he aimed his scorching glare at an alarmed Yugi “Try to hurt him again” he motioned with his head to Marik's direction “and I'll make sure you'll have no head to put that spiky crown of yours on.”

It was safe to say that even the lordly Yugi was disconcerted when faced with a blood covered Bakura. He didn't dare go against Bakura's words as long as the albino still held a knife. Bakura and Marik stayed down to continue the fight, while Serenity pulled Yugi up with the reluctant aid of clone 290.

“If you're done down there, could we please pull you up and leave now?” Serenity's screechy voice was heard from above, Marik briefly turned upwards to look at her. “What's he doing there? Leave him down to rot and die!” the tanned boy complained in an irate fashion, glaring daggers at the clone 290, who was now bending over the vent with Yugi and Tea. Marik hated this one so much that he truly felt like his entire essence was on fire from the intensity of his -admittedly meaningless- jealousy. There was no reason why Marik should feel so threatened by this clone, but he did nonetheless. He wanted 290 nowhere near Bakura, for that matter!

“We can't just leave him here!” Serenity cried, and Marik's blood started pumping furiously in his veins upon seeing 290's absolutely self-satisfied smirk, which suggested he thought of Marik as no less than a useless fly. “Marik give me your hand!” Yugi shouted, stretching as downwards as Serenity could support him.

“Bakura! Go first!!” Marik shouted at the albino, whose clothes were now ragged and painted in red. At least most of it. The Rod gave electrical shots to the unfortunate people it stabbed, and corpses were now littering the previously spotless floor. The clones had apparently stopped attacking, looking at Bakura apprehensively, obviously terrified to go near him without a proper strategy.

“No you go.” Bakura slowly said “I'm the one they're afraid of…”

“Bakura, I can't-“

“GO!” Bakura roared at him in his most earth-shattering commanding tone, and Marik took a step back, startled. A familiar scorching feeling entered his chest, the same one he had felt when he'd seen Bakura confessing his love to clone 290 on screen. Bakura had just shouted at him as though Marik was nothing but dirt on his sole…He understood that the circumstances they were in called for desperation, but still...Marik felt the same jealous fear overtake him from the inside…

`Why is he being like this…he's not really in love with me, is he…? After what happened with that disgusting clone, he doesn't love me anymore…or maybe something else happened I don't know of…'

Shaken and apprehensive, and suddenly feeling extremely aware of 290's teasing eyes, Marik took Yugi's hand, and together Serenity and the spiky haired boy pulled him up, while 290 sat idly to the side and watched with a half-interested, half-derisive glare.

Marik avoided his eyes at first, still shaken because of Bakura's harsh tone, and then he returned the look, only with a much more intense level of hatred and malice combined.

“You should have left him to the vultures.” Marik bitterly told his friends, once he was finally settled safely in the dark solemnity of the vent tube.

“Bakura!! Come on!” Serenity called, and both she, Yugi and Marik lowered their hands to help him. Marik idly noticed their conduct towards Bakura, and how extraordinarily friendly it seemed in comparison to the way they'd originally treated him. Ryou's `darkside' was almost one of them now. No, wait. He was one of them, if one took Serenity's worried gaze and Yugi's reluctant concern into account.

Bakura suddenly made a jump for it, grabbing the most available hand he could find, which was Yugi's. Marik tried to help, but Serenity and Yugi seemed to be making a fair job of it. That was, until Marik saw his mirror image -clone 290- helping drag Bakura up as well.

Marik heard a great gong ring in the interior of his head, signaling that his blood had just rushed to his head a little faster than was safe for his health.

“Get your hands off him, you liar slime!!!” Marik roared in complete rage, losing all semblance of control. If it weren't for the limited space of the ventilation shaft, Marik was sure he would've pounced and ripped 290's eyes out, just out of pure fury for everything the other had done.

The blissful feeling of righteous justification came when 290 drew his hands back immediately, as though burned, turning to look at a ballistic Marik with a decidedly guilty look. Marik didn't let his rage waver, not even for a minute.

“It's okay…I'm fine…” Bakura said as Yugi and Serenity finally helped him up those last few centimeters. Marik was suddenly feeling extremely strange, seeing as the last thing Bakura had told him was `GO' in a particularly unloving tone…and now Bakura seemed totally preoccupied with everything happening around them. Preoccupied enough not to see Marik…and Bakura hadn't protested about 290's presence here either…Could it be…No. Marik didn't even want to think about it, trying not to jinx it.

But still the first strokes of an unknown, completely alien feeling started crowing his heart with their sharp thorns. That love confession he'd seen…was it possible that in the small amount of time that had intervened…and this 290 worm seemed particularly inclined to help the albino…

“Let's go somewhere safe…the nearby corridors are still locked from all sides. We'll be safe there- at least for a while…And we've got the map, too…” Serenity instructed, making Bakura nod. All of them bent over the vent, their heads popping up from the darkness to see what was going on underneath. They saw the clones jumping up desperately, but they were too uncoordinated and too small to reach the vents, or climb to them. Well, perhaps they could climb, but when they managed to find the way, Marik and company would be long gone.

For the time being, the clones were just focused of avoiding the carcasses of their dead `brothers' and clawing at the walls or each other desperately, as though they were zombies trying to reach the vents with nails and teeth. They didn't seem to be at all intelligent, save for the customary feral needs.

“They haven't received the Initiation yet…only the primary brain control centers are operating. That's why it looks like they move under one brain.” 290 explained idly, while staring at the small versions of what he once was, no doubt.

“Of course” Marik didn't bother stopping the venom from coming out “Just like you.” He scathingly said, making both Yugi and Serenity turn at him with a questioning look, obviously confused as to why he was being so intentionally hostile towards somebody who was an enemy acting -suspiciously- friendly. 290 was only acting like that because he had nothing else to do, probably, now that psychotic clones were on the loose. He'd probably turn against them the moment he could get his hands on the Rod. That's why they all had to be extra careful around him…but there was no reason not to try to actually provoke an honest change of heart from him…

290 seemed silenced by Marik's last observation, and he simply turned to look at Bakura, a thing which infuriated Marik even more. What was going on between those two? What, were they boyfriends now? What gave that little shit the right to look at Bakura like that? He'd make that slimy coward pay for what he'd almost done to Bakura and to all of them in general!

“This vent section can only lead us as far as the L34-L288 corridor. Then we can't go any further.” Bakura explained, pointing thoughtfully at the map while screams and guttural sounds from the clones served as a background to his thinking. Marik, Yugi and Serenity came closer to check out the map. Once it was revealed where Bakura and Serenity had acquired this wonderful tool of a map, Marik's vision turned scarlet once again, not allowing him to settle down and think rationally.

“Let me see that!” Serenity snapped and took the map from Bakura's hands. A few days ago such an action would have provoked Bakura's fury unrestrained. Now it just passed as normal. And suddenly, it hit Marik. That was it. Now that Bakura had been accepted by the others… since Bakura seemed to be growing less aloof each passing day…

“Then we go there” Bakura said, turning to the others to see if they agreed. Since when did Bakura care if people agreed or not? Usually, Bakura never cared about democratic procedures. Most of the time he just ordered.

“Well, that's settled then” Serenity said, while both Yugi and Bakura nodded skeptically, and 290 simply stared at them curiously “First we go to the farthest corridor we can reach, an then we tell Yugi and Marik what we discovered about this place. We'll go from there. What do you say, Marik?” Serenity suddenly asked, turning to face the blond young man, only to see he was staring down at the clones blankly, lost deep in his musings. A vein was throbbing at the side of his neck, and blood gurgled down from the various bites on his body. His skin had been defiled completely, raised up in crusts where various teeth had sunk. Bakura's mark on his neck was no longer discernible.

“Marik?” Serenity asked again, and the blond shook his head quickly turning to his friends, only to see they were all looking at him. Bakura's blood eyes deep and calculating, burned him most of all.

“I'm fine. So, let's go, already. I hate these clones.” He hastily said, not particularly caring what had been said, only about being with Bakura alone, finally. Oh, he needed a word with Bakura, all right…and he had so much to tell that bastard, 290, too. All this secrecy was killing him. He wanted to tell everyone. Yugi already knew, but Serenity…He wanted to be free…To prove to himself and to that god-damned 290 clone that Bakura really loved him. Him. Bakura. He wanted it to show….but Bakura…Bakura…

They all started crouching forward, 290 the first in line, since they had to be wary of him, and Marik the last. Every moment that went by, Marik's fury kept intensifying, aimed at 290 and perhaps a little at Bakura, for acting the way he did.

God, Marik hated the clones! He despised them with all his heart! Disgusting, vicious creatures. He wanted to destroy them from the core. To wipe out every last bit of cinder left from their ashes! He wanted them dead! All of them! He wanted to rip out their dilated blue eyes and to tear their pretty mocha skin from bone to bone. He wanted to be the only one who looked like himself. He wanted to have a self…As long as those sick clones stayed alive, he could never really have that, could he?

But most of all, he hated this clone! The one who had attempted to take the one he loved away from him! Marik hated this one with a passion unlike any other, compared perhaps to the passion he felt for Bakura…

They crawled and crawled through the dark corridors, around corners and across pipes, until Serenity and Bakura finally seemed to be satisfied, and they all finally climbed out the ventilation system and into a typical red-green corridor.

The moment they all set foot on the floor and made sure they were perfectly safe and completely alone in there, save for the Sleepers, of course, Marik lost no time in whirling around and pointing an accusing figure at his mirror image, who looked decidedly annoyed.

“YOU!” he shouted, not caring at the moment if he revealed too much of his relationship with Bakura to his friends. For the moment, the only thing he could feel was blind fury for this man. This coward who had almost cost him everything he'd worked so hard to attain.

“HOW DARE YOU? You sniveling coward? How dare you impersonate me? Don't act like you don't know- Ishrat showed me everything! I killed him! Did you know that? I killed your precious mentor!!” Marik shouted as he advanced on the other clone. Bakura and Yugi were temporarily startled, so they didn't get to restrain Marik before the tanned boy lunged at 290 and started fighting with the protesting clone.

“You think I care about him? It was high time he left, if you ask me! Oh, and by the way, your sweetheart is a wonderful kisser!” 290 taunted evilly, avoiding Marik's uncalculated hits.

“YOU FUCK!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!!” Marik practically screamed as he pounced and started trying to pound on the other's ribs, ignoring the fact that the bites on his own body hurt every time he moved, that his shoulder was wounded from a laser and that his nose was half-broken. He would hold on, just for the pleasure of destroying this piece of shit.

“Marik wait!! No!! We don't have time for this!! Serenity shouted, but there was no stopping Marik now. He'd been ignored enough. He was hurt, tired, hungry, furious and insanely jealous, for some reason. This clone would pay for what he'd attempted to do!! Marik subconsciously felt that 290 was the biggest threat in this place, since it was not a physical one, but a threat against Marik's relationship with Bakura. A threat which had to be eliminated immediately. Immediately!

Marik felt hands pull him back roughly, and he struggled to continue hitting the other, but 290 squiggled out of his grasp before Marik could shake off Bakura and Yugi, who were restraining him.

“Get off me!! Let me kill him!!” Marik spat menacingly “YOU”LL DIE, YOU HEAR? Nobody impersonates me! What did you think, just because you look like me you're entitled to be me, or something?” Marik shouted, ignoring the fact that they were trapped in an underground lab, surrounded by flashing alarms and half-dead Sleepers, and bloodied from top to bottom “Bakura!! Give me the Rod! Give me it! I'll send this bastard where he belongs!!”

But Bakura kept holding Marik back “Calm down, Mariku…We'll keep an eye on hi- …”

At the defensive tone in Bakura's voice, Marik's heart lurched painfully, and he saw red.

“ What is this, Bakura? What, are we defending this little liar now? So he's better than me, is that it? What the hell, did he put a spell on you or something? Let me go- I'll kill him!!” Marik screeched at the top of his lungs, his ire now unleashed and reaching record highs, while Bakura also shouted at him to calm down. Unfortunately for the two of them, the conversation was starting to take an entirely different direction, and Marik's anger at 290 was morphing into what it really was. Fear. Of losing Bakura.

“It's not like that! Nothing happened!” Bakura shouted back “If you'd just listen-“

Too bad Marik was too angry to care whether or not he'd reveal their secret to his other friends, who were now watching the fight uncomfortably, not really knowing or wanting to interfere.

“I want to kill him I tell you!! Let me go!!! Why are you doing this? So you love him, is that it? You want him? How could you? I'll…I'll… “ Marik fought Bakura valiantly, while 290 watched the entire display from the side, sufficiently alarmed. Had one known where to look, they'd see a muscle pumping anxiously at his jaw. He watched Bakura as he struggled with Marik, watched the albino's sharp eyes soften and warm as he looked upon his treasured one…Bakura's loved one…who looked just like him.

Oh, God, how he hated Marik…what did Bakura see in this emotional rack, anyway? What did Marik have that was so special…? If having a soul meant being hysterical half the time, then 290 was fine the way he was, thank you very much.

But he still hated Marik. Bakura was stupid to love him.

“So this is the prototype?” the Leader of the GOULS commented scathingly “A madman? You're not all you're cracked up to be, I'll give you that.” He finished, but was taken aback when Marik and Bakura both turned to him and screamed “SHUT UP!!!” at the same time, then went back to their quarrel, which was gaining volume and intensity with each passing moment, since Marik was now not focusing on fighting 290, but an equally intense Bakura.

“What are you talking about? I only said that because I thought he was you!! What the heck- How the heck do you even know about this anyway? Here I was, all worried because you-“ Bakura was shouting while trying to keep Marik from escaping his grasp. Serenity and Yugi looked on with uncomfortable gazes, not knowing what to do, except maybe to act confused. They both knew about the real relationship between Bakura and Marik, of course, but having it out in the open was an entirely different matter…

“Oh really? Is that our new excuse now?” Marik roared, his temper shooting up “You thought I wasn't looking so you thought you could get off with him fine, did you?! Well guess again, because I saw EVERYTHING! I saw what you told him!! How could you think it was me, after all we've been through together?”

“Well what would you do if I showed up and turned out to be another person? It's not my fault he looks exactly like you! What was I supposed to think-“ Bakura tried to reason, but it was no use.

“Oh, save it, will ya? You're just using excuses so as not to admit you liked it when he-“

“Do you even think before you speak? What the hell are you talking about? I thought he was you the whole time!!!!”

“Oh really? As though I'd ever come on to you in plain view! Of course you knew it wasn't me!! But that didn't stop you from friggin' confessing to him, did it? Was that me? How could you mistake that scumbag for me? How could you-“

But there was no end to that sentence. Bakura had made Marik cease his overly jealous, maniacal drivel the only way he knew, except for slapping him, which was not an option.

“Uh…Com' on, guys…I think we better give them some privacy here…” Yugi motioned for Serenity and 290 to follow him as he walked towards the nearest corner.

“Jesus, we don't have time for this!!!” Serenity's distressed whisper was heard, but it fell on deaf ears, since the couple was far from paying attention. She tried to look at Bakura and Marik as little as possible as she walked after Yugi, completely forgetting about 290 and how dangerous he could prove to be if not under constant supervision. The bitter truth was that Serenity felt she had to get away from the sight of her boyfriend's body kissing someone else as quickly as possible.

Apart from weird, seeing Bakura kiss another guy like that was disconcerting to say the least.

290 unconsciously lingered for a minute longer, a bizarre look on his face. He witnessed reality first hand, seeing the picture of what he had already known, Bakura and Marik clutching at each other, kissing desperately, clawing at one another's bodies as though they were both anchors and boats at the same time.

The clone watched, a decidedly unreadable look in his eyes, as the very man he had tried to seduce before was now in his right place. It felt so strange to see it first hand, though. The reality of it finally sunk in, as he actually saw the truth with his own eyes. The unbelievable, strangely gut-wrenching truth. The depth of his previous deception finally sunk in, right then and there, when he finally saw the real thing, splayed out before his eyes in all its glory. Real passion.

Real love.

Bakura was growling as he hauled his lover against the wall, forcing their bodies together, molding them into one. 290 watched the mirror image of himself arching and writhing as the albino rocked his hips against his lithe body, having now forgotten all semblance of reason or restraint. Was this how he himself would look, 290 thought, had he been the one in Bakura's arms, melting beneath Bakura's touch, gasping under Bakura's breath? Was this how he would cry out in strangled pleasure, had Bakura whispered words in his ears like he was doing with Marik right then?

Probably not. After all, clones never have the original personality, do they?

“Hey, you. Walk where I can see you.” A commanding voice suddenly interrupted 290's thoughts, and he looked up to see Dark Yugi brandishing a metal pole at him. Ah…still mad about the brown haired woman then, eh? Well, 290 supposed it would be logical for this Yugi kid to be wary of him, seeing as he was both stronger and more skilled in martial arts. He could slaughter this kid anytime he wanted. The real threat was Bakura and Marik. He had to eliminate them at the opportune moment.

290 smirked and shrugged, leering at Serenity and Yugi both as he walked around the corner. He was unable to resist a last look at the now completely passionate couple, his eyes lingering particularly on Bakura's pain-pleasured face.

“We don't want you anywhere near the Rod now, do we, clone?” Yugi muttered derisively from the back, and Serenity's scowl mirrored her friend's intense distrust.

290 cursed at himself inwardly for having let himself be dragged in this situation. Strangely even at his most malicious scheming about murdering Marik, thoughts of stealing the Rod had evaded him.

“It's been ten minutes, they must have calmed down by now…”

“You mean they must have fucked by now.”

Serenity glared at the sneering clone. Frustrating as it was to talk to a person who looked exactly like one of her best friends, yet who wasn't said best friend, she also had to deal with 290's charming personality traits.

“No, for your information, that's not what I meant.” She huffed at him annoyedly, in the fashion women usually do when angered or teased by men. Men who are jerks like this one, that is.

290 sneered at her from behind his crossed arms. He was leaning against the wall opposite from her while Yugi was restlessly pacing around. They were all waiting for a while, until Marik and Bakura went back to normal from their overly tense attitudes. Yugi supposed it would be okay to rest for a while and maybe have a drink of water. Besides, they had managed to move sufficiently away from the hordes of clones…it would be okay to rest for a while.

“Do you always use such unecessarily long sentences for a simple refusal?” 290 distastefully asked the girl.

Serenity raised an annoyed eyebrow “Oh, honestly, look who's talki-“

“SHHHH!!!” the Game King's loud hiss was suddenly heard, and both others stopped and turned to look at him, more from confusion that from obedience. Yugi's face was still, his eyes narrowed and focused on the ceiling. He seemed to be trying to…listen to something.

“Did you hear that?” he asked in a hushed tone and Serenity looked at him in perplexion while 290 also checked the atmosphere for any weird sounds.

“What?” the clone finally asked, decidedly annoyed at having missed something. Yugi didn't speak for a few moments, then his head snapped up again with his eyes wide and alarmed.

“That!!” he pointed an index finger upwards, as though that would explain everything.

“Yugi, what are you talking about? I can't hear a thing…” Serenity reassured him, but his tense figure gave her an ominous feeling none the less. She started to stand up and gather her things, while Yugi slowly approached one of the corridor walls next to a Sleeper capsule.

“Listen…” Yugi said as he placed both hands on the damp wall and adhered his ear to it.

Silence reigned for a few moments, while all three of them stood still, trying to listen carefully but not managing to hear anything.

Serenity opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but she immediately snapped it closed when she heard…

Small sounds…coming from faraway…they reminded Serenity of nails scraping against metal, only very far away. The sounds kept multiplying…becoming louder and louder with every passing second. And they were coming…they were coming…from above…

Silence fell for three, maybe four seconds amongst them. Everything passed in slow motion as all three of them looked at each other simultaneously, one alarmed face mirroring the other.

“Run.” Yugi suddenly whispered, and somehow, to Serenity's ears, it echoed like a shout.

It was all a blur as they ran back around the corner and to the corridor where they'd left Bakura and Marik, uncaring of whether they'd catch them in an uncompromising position or not. As it were, they ran, first Yugi, then clone 290 and last of all Serenity, towards the end of the corridor, where Bakura and Marik were sitting on the floor side by side, leaning their heads against the wall.

Upon seeing their stampede, a finally rational-looking Marik sat up in surprise, attracting the albino's attention and making him sit up also.

“What-“ Marik started saying, but was cut off by Yugi's shout in no time “Run!! The clones!! They're at the vents!!”

“Wonderful, your highness! Now that you've screamed and pinpointed our position, I guess they'll have no trouble in finding us, will they?” the albino bitterly commented, as he and Marik jumped up and started to run down the corridor, along with the others.

“The doors are bulked! We can't use the vents!” Marik shouted, noticing that there were indeed ominous noises coming from the ceiling and that they were becoming louder by the minute. “There's nowhere to go!” Serenity echoed from the back, noticing that her voice sounded too hoarse and desperate for her own good.

“Take the map out!”

“I told you there's nowhere to go!”

Yugi and Bakura started disputing while running. Meanwhile, Serenity watched the far end of the corridor coming closer as she ran and she knew that once they'd reach the closed door there would really be no way out.

“YOU!!” Marik suddenly stopped, his heels echoing slightly from the friction with the floor. He spun around suddenly and grabbed the front of 290's torn shirt, an exact copy of his own “Which way do we go?” Marik inquired roughly, as 290 glared at him defiantly and kept his mouth stubbornly shut.

“You know, if you stay here, the clones will get you too, so it's really your loss!!” Yugi warned 290 from behind Marik, who was currently in the middle of the most intense glaring contest Serenity had ever seen.

“Which. Way. Is. Out.” Marik demanded, his hand fisting in the other's shirt. Defiantly 290 smirked “If I knew, I'd have killed you and left long ago. This is the first time ever that code R8 has been raised in Eruna.” 290 pushed Marik away from him roughly and reassembled his posture “And it's your fault.” He finished, still glaring at an angered Marik. But when Bakura walked up and put his hand on Marik's elbow, something broke in the other clone's face, and he looked up to the ceiling, feeling embarrassed, somehow.

“Normally, the vents would be the way out, but now…” he started, just as a particularly loud crash was heard from above.

“They've reached here!” Serenity squeaked, grabbing Yugi's hand and holding onto it with a death grip. “We're gonna die!”

“Shut up.” Bakura simply said, not even remotely inclined to deal with mass hysteria right then “Aren't there any more rooms like the one where Nehti's body is?” he asked 290, his face betraying none of what he felt. Somehow, it felt strange to say `my body' so he settled for `Nehti's body'…after all…it wasn't really his body. He wasn't in it, was he??

“No…The Hydro PS Room is exclusive…there are no others…” 290 answered quietly, looking more at the floor than at Bakura's face. The albino didn't seem to notice however, since he nodded and looked at the ceiling distractedly. Marik was doing the exact same thing.

“What are we doing? We have to run! Move!” Yugi egged, but Serenity shook her head from beside him “To where? It's pointless…There are thousands of them…once they fill the corridors…we're lost.”

Silence fell over their little group as each one of them stared at the side, trying to think without being distracted by their desperation and their fear. The noises were becoming louder yet, now accompanied with shouts and faded voices.

290 stared at the floor, then back at Bakura's frowning face, which let only a sliver of worry show. The albino was staring at the side, seemingly lost in his thoughts…he looked…no, desperate couldn't be the word…

290 squeezed his eyes shut, managing to hate himself and Bakura and Marik all at the same time.

“Although…there might be a way…” his mouth started saying, and he watched carefully as the others turned to him at the same time and Bakura's face lit with renewed spirit.

“What?” Yugi asked eagerly, and 290 nodded, as though deciding something in his mind. Then he spoke again, and even though he was explaining for everyone, his eyes were trained on skeptical red eyes more often than not. But when he met Marik's frigid lilac ones, he immediately looked back at the floor.

“If we could somehow find a way to the main hall, we could get to the Headquarters in no time…I could take you there…Noa will reinforce the shields and the other clones will never be able to get us there…” he said “But we can't go to the great hall through the vents…and I don't know how-“

“I don't trust you.” Marik immediately said, not losing a beat “We don't need you to go to the HQ, we have a map.”

290 smirked “But how will Noa let you in without me?”

Marik closed his mouth and glared, as though on automatic pilot. His eyes narrowed down to slits.

“You need me to get there.” 290 finished, his voice taking on a tone of unshakable glee. The kind of self-satisfaction that grained on Marik's nerves.

“Well, way to go, wiseass. If we knew how to get to the main hall we wouldn't be standing here in the first place, would we?” Marik spat back, satisfied upon seeing that 290 had no suitable comeback for that one.

Silence fell once again, now heavier then before, until Marik started muttering.

“The clones are in the vents…the Sleepers are in the cubicles…who does that leave?” he was saying to himself, and Yugi and Serenity paid no attention to him. Bakura, however, watched him with hawk eyes.

“Bakura that's it!” Marik suddenly growled, turning to the albino and extending his hand in a gesture of request “Give me the Rod!”

Bakura raised an eyebrow and carefully looked at Marik, searching for any trace of lingering hysteria or lunacy. But Marik seemed completely aware of himself, which was even more disconcerting. Marik would never ask for the Rod voluntarily. Bakura knew this, so…

“Why?” and then Bakura narrowed his eyes “ I'm not falling for the same trick twice, clone.”

But the blond in front of him rolled his eyes and pointed at a newly acquired bite -delivered a few minutes ago from Bakura's teeth- at his collarbone. “Guess again. Now…give me the Rod.”

“What the hell?” Bakura simply asked, eyeing the blond warily “You want to wave it around? You know how dangerous it is!”

Ahh….No matter how much he loved the silver haired demon, Marik couldn't deny that sometimes Bakura just asked too many questions.

“Just give it to me!” Marik insisted, now slightly annoyed and impatient, so Bakura finally complied and pulled out the Rod. He handed the golden instrument over very carefully, watching 290 for any signs of offense and watching Marik for any sign of the previous paranoia.

But neither came.

Marik held the Rod in his hand carefully, as though trying to touch it as little as possible. It still hurt a bit when small electric sparks started shooting from the Rod. Marik winced and grabbed his face with one hand. Was it Bakura's imagination, or had there just been some weird twist on Marik's face? Ah, but it was gone now, as fast as it came.

“Now, Bakura, Yugi…this may hurt…As for you…” Marik turned to 290, his voice a little lower than usual, but not significantly so “I don't really care if you hurt or not.” He bluntly stated. Then, with a smooth movement, he raised the rod in front of him, to eye level, and closed his eyes.

Bakura and Yugi, completely alarmed by now, started to move towards him, but stopped when something like a bright flash of lightning hit their brains from the inside.

Come to me….come to me…come to me….come to me…

The pain was intense, but it wasn't as blinding as other times. It was more of a compelling lullaby. Unable to help themselves, Bakura, Yugi and 290 walked forward like robots, until they came to stand exactly in front of Marik. The pain stopped then, on the most part, but there was still a sense of being held captive, somehow…

“The clones can't be controlled by the Rod…Marik what are you doing?” Serenity asked from the side, as she watched Marik open his eyes suddenly. She thought they looked a little lighter than they usually were, but it must have been her imagination.

Come to me….come to me…come to my aid…

Marik didn't answer her, only kept staring forward, as though completely mesmerized. The others could here violent sounds of metal clashing, coming from somewhere close by. The clones had finally reached them….

“WHAT DOES HE THINK HE'S DOING?” 290 shouted over the noises around and the voices in his brain. He turned around to see small children covered in red. They were starting to descend from the vents.

“I don't know!!!” Yugi shouted over the crashes and yells “He can't control the clones, so…”

Bakura stayed silent as he stared at the offenders that were coming. He heard Yugi's words and listened to what Marik was saying in their minds…it was true, Marik could not control the clones, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't control the…

Red eyes widened in realization, their bright ruby lighting up.

“Mind slaves!! ” he said aloud as he turned around abruptly, now watching Marik's overly focused face with reluctant surprise.

Come to me….Defend me…My servants…

“Don't be ridiculous!! He has no range! He can't get to them from here!” 290 told Bakura in irritation, but Bakura guffawed allowed.

“Marik's not like the rest of you, remember? With the Rod, his power is reinforced tenfold!” he sneered satanically, and 290 shut his mouth immediately and turned away. Unseen to Bakura was how he bit at his lower lip, drawing blood.

“They're coming!” Yugi shouted upon witnessing the advance of the clones against them “Serenity stay behind me!!” he shouted as he drew out the familiar metal skeptre which he had used to `crush heads' before.

“This is hopeless.” 290 stated rigidly, standing limply and staring at the dozen clones who were running towards them from across the corridor. How had he gotten himself in this situation anyway? He was supposed to be with the clones, not against them!

“Not while I'm here.” The now familiar husky voice said from the back left, and Bakura, for lack of any other weapon, pulled out his golden ring. He roughly threaded his fingers through the familiar golden curves so that the spiky clinging edges of the ring now protruded from between his knuckles. He remembered using this technique before, when Ryou had been threatened by cops in the twenty-first century. Were those few memories even real, or were they fake implants? Probably the second.

Come to me…come to me…now!

An earth-shattering crashing noise was heard.

Multiple things happened at once. First of all, Bakura felt that he couldn't move away from Marik due to the mind control, but then he found that he didn't need to move away, since the clones had all stopped their attack and were staring blankly at something behind Bakura's back.

Bakura, Yugi and the others whirled around simultaneously, just in time to see none other than an unnaturally tall brunet walk in the corridor through a completely trashed door.

Kaiba Seto.

His entire right hand now the color of heated steel.

So Serenity was right! Kaiba really was an android robot! That's why he was so invincible when fighting! He was a robot! Seto Kaiba, CEO of MediCorp, Champion in perhaps more than a dozen social activities, was a robot!! At least his completely defiled metallic arm said so.

And Marik was controlling him. Him and the other mind slaves, the ones that were now walking in the corridor via the door that Kaiba had trashed. Wheeler Senior, Wheeler Mai, Pegasus Max, Rishid, Greene Lena, Honda Kenji, Tanaka Taichi, Brown Rika-Maria, Tray `Bandit' Kith, Gardener Teanna…all of them…and more…ones that Bakura didn't recognize…maybe they'd been hiding in the darkness of Eruna…

“I guess the cavalry arrived.” 290 commented with his hands now crossed and a confident expression on his face.

“Not that you would've done anything had they not.” Serenity muttered from the side, as Yugi stared at the newcomers with a hanging jaw. “I can't believe it! At the last moment, he manages to summon them!” he said in disbelieving awe.

Marik opened his eyes, which he had shut again, and thrust the Millennium Rod forward. Bakura's eyes didn't fool him this time. Marik's appearance did look a bit altered, though not completely. There were more veins than usual bobbing on Marik's throat and temples…Marik's hair were slightly raised…

“Yo, I think you better take that Rod away from your pal, here, before he goes all whacko again…” 290 caustically said.

“Shut the fuck up, will ya?” Bakura ordered in annoyance, unwilling to accept that 290 may actually be right.

“DESTROY THEM!!” Marik suddenly commanded with a shout, and immediately, Bakura `s consciousness neutralized into what the force commanded him to do. From the back of his mind, he registered Yugi, 290 and the mind slaves running behind him.

Joe and Mai both had their hyper arms released, raised like claws above their heads. Mai had her long hair cascading down her back, and at that moment, through all the panic, Serenity thought she looked like a Valkyrie.

And Joey. Tall. Proud. Strong. His sparkling hair whooshing around his angled face as he ran, claws out, eyes sharp, mouth drawn back into a snarl. Dragon.

Bakura didn't now what he was doing, at some point. It was like he was seeing his body's motions from a third person point of view. He knew what it must feel for Ryou when Bakura is in control of his body…it wasn't a nice feeling. Now there was Marik's will controlling all of them. The Rod was in control. Bakura, Yugi 290, Kaiba and all the mind-slaves. All of them had become murderers for the sake of a half-deranged Marik's will.

Bakura saw the dozens of clone predators jump against him, yell and claw at him. Red splashed everywhere. He grabbed the attackers' skulls and nailed their brains with the sharp edges of his golden ring. He grasped people by the hair and hauled them against each other. He was in a state of derange. He didn't know what he was doing, or why. It felt s though he couldn't control his own body. It was moving on automatic pilot, and he was in for a wild ride…

“No! Marik, stop! Snap out of it!!” Serenity desperately shouted, realizing that the Rod had affected Marik all over again, and that this had already turned to a massacre, not an escape plan “Stop!!” she desperately shouted, and realized she'd have to act soon, if Marik didn't stop his psychic power feed.

“God dang it!” Serenity cursed at what her bad luck was forcing her to do. Seeing Marik's pervertedly twisted face and fully spiked hair, she decided it was for the best. She brought her trusty metallic rod down.

“What…what just…oh my GOD!!!” Yugi's voice was heard shouting over the cries and screams. So, Marik's mind control was broken. Serenity honestly hoped she hadn't broken Marik's head along with his mind control when she'd hit him with the pole over the head, but it had been the only way to bring him back to his senses. Serenity inconspicuously picked up the Golden Rod and hid it in the folds of her clothes for safekeeping.

“What have I done!?” Yugi miserably shouted at the top of his lungs since he found himself surrounded with corpses and bloodied masses. 290's reaction was not so violent, but he did seem sufficiently shocked. From the vents the clones kept climbing down, but their number had decreased significantly.

“Fuck!” Bakura shouted, not at all remorseful at having committed murder but more worried about their current situation. “We have to run! They're not stopping!”

Doleful cries echoed in the air as Yugi, 290 and Bakura ran back to where Serenity and Marik were left. The mind-slaves and Kaiba, now uncontrolled by the Rod, had resumed their walking around like zombies. The only difference now was that the junior clones kept periodically attacking them, and the mind slaves would automatically fend them off.

“Wow…Something good actually came out of all this mind slave business.” Bakura commented, recognizing the irony of the situation. What had been a problem before was now a blessing.

“Marik! What happened to him?” the albino asked Serenity when he reached her. She was crying woefully, obviously too shocked by the brutality she had seen. Yugi also fell very silent, though he didn't cry.

“We have to go! This can't go on forever!” 290 said, referring to the mind-slaves fending off the clones.

Bakura raised an eyebrow “Since when have you been part of the group?” he inquisitively asked. Upon hearing this, 290 blinked and looked away in silence, his eyes avoiding Bakura's at all costs “I'm…not.” He admitted, not having anything better to say.

“Marik! Mariku!” Bakura shook Marik supine form by the shoulders “Shit! He's out cold!”

Yugi blinked and shook his head, trying still to recover from the multiple shocks “Without him we can't control the mind-slaves. We need him.”

Bakura narrowed his eyes “I'm not having him touch that god damn Rod again if my life depends on it. We'll have to find another way.”

“You know; I can also control the mind slaves…if you'd just give me the Rod…” 290 insinuated, daring to take a step closer to the proud red eyes, now that the ever-present Marik wasn't there to threaten him.

“Dream on.” Bakura simply said and left it at that. 290 didn't let his annoyance show in his face, and instead cleverly disguised it with a shrug that said `your loss'.

“First of all, we have to run from this place!” Yugi urged, seeing that the clones were multiplying and that the Rare Hunters would be unable to restrain them all.

“I'm not leaving Joey again!” Serenity said determinedly, traces of her periodic stubbornness showing.

“We have to leave him Serena! We have to go!” Yugi reasoned with her “He'll be okay! The clones aren't after him! You'll see, when Marik wakes, he'll call Joey close to you again!”

“No! I can't leave them!! I can't!” Serenity wailed and clung to an equally shaken Yugi for support. On the meantime, Bakura assembled Marik's body and flung the boy over his shoulder, cowering slightly under Marik's weight.

“Look!” 290 suddenly called “They're coming from the other end of the corridor too!!” he said, pointing to the door which Kaiba had burst open and which was now serving as a passageway for new clones to enter. And from this side, there were no GOULS to block them.

“We have to go to HQ now! It's our only hope!” 290 said, coming close to a distracted Bakura “Trust me! Why would I lie? I'm gonna die too if I don't go to HeadQuarters!”

“Well, I don't trust you.” Yugi interrupted in a tone of self-importance as he walked forward hurriedly, to stand beside Bakura “Don't listen to him! He'll lead us straight to a trap!”

“Well what other choice do you have? Either you trust me, or you die! What will it be?” 290 asked fervently.

“If we trust you, we die anyway!” Yugi shouted back.

“They're coming closer!” Serenity yelled despondently, pointing at the approaching clones. Bakura and 290 both looked at what she was showing, then 290 turned back to Bakura.

“We have to go..You have to trust me!” he urged.

“I don't have to do anything.” Bakura said in a distracted, irritated tone “And if you piss me off too much, I'll kill you, no sweat, got that?”

“Fine” 290 retorted, coming closer and pinning Bakura with his challenging stare “But just trust me this once.”

Bakura narrowed his eyes, thinking `Why should I, impostor?' but then again, feeling Marik's dead weight on his shoulder, he realized that unless they went somewhere safe pretty fast, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Yugi and Serenity stared on as Bakura reverted his kingly red eyes and clone 290 gave a small smile.

Re-tracking their way down the halls was much easier when they had a guide as precious as 290. The map was helpful but a bit confusing at times, whereas 290 knew the corridors by heart and functioned like a human compass. It seemed that he had learned how to distinguish one landscape from the other, even though they all looked the same to Bakura and his friends.

They followed the path Kaiba had opened with his steel fists, since only the doors Kaiba had trashed were now open and available. It was true that there were clones in the corridors, but there weren't many and they weren't too much of a nuisance. Yugi took care of them while the others ran, or it was the other way around with Bakura. 290 didn't fight a clone- not once- but he didn't prevent the others from fighting clones either.

Bakura preferred not to think about 290's confusing stance. He had more important things to think about. For instance, Number One: where the heck was the Rod? Bakura hadn't seen it ever since the last time he remembered Marik holding it. Number Two: Did 290 know where the Rod was, or did he have it? Oh, that would prove very unsettling indeed. If that were the case, then Bakura was diving face first into a trap right now, because if 290 had the Rod, then he would probably be leading them somewhere where he could manipulate them with it. And last but not least, Number Three: What would happen to the mind slaves? It was now clear that every time Marik took hold of the Rod, he became psychotic. But Marik was the only one Bakura could trust with the Rod…

Speaking of Marik…

“Wha-…what?” the tanned boy groaned in a small voice, slowly starting to regain his senses “Where am I? What happened…Bakura?”

“I'm here…” Bakura reassured him, slowing his pace a little to let Marik get rid of the dizziness. Soon, he'd be a ble to stand on his own two feet.

“What's going on? Are the clones gone? Did it work?” Marik asked in a gruff voice as Bakura gently let him down, supporting him by the shoulders. 290 and the others had also stopped and were watching the exchange, although slightly uncomfortably, hyperaware as they were of Bakura and Marik's newly revealed romantic status.

“Yeah…it worked. You just went a little crazy on us back there. Everything's okay now, though...”

“Oh…ouch! My head…Oww…” Marik cradled his head in both hands as Bakura held him by the shoulder and started walking with him toward a nearby wall. Marik sat against it in order to rest. 290 was towering over him, hands crossed and smirk in place.

“'A little crazy'? How modest of you, Bakura. I'd call it more like `completely paranoid'.” He sneered at the tanned boy on the floor.

Marik promptly ignored him, mainly because he couldn't even think straight through the pounding in his brain.

“What happened to the clones? Where's the Rod?” he asked Bakura instead, angering 290 by ignoring him.

“We killed a good deal of them. The rest are still after us. 290 is taking us to the HeadQuarters. We had no choice but to trust him.” Serenity took care of the mandatory explanation, filling in the gaps of the story. “As for the Rod…” she started saying “I don't know where it is. Last time I saw it, you were holding it, Marik.” Her innocent eyes sparkled.

“Wait.” Yugi suddenly interrupted “You don't have the Rod? I thought it was you who took it away Serenity…”

“Are you kidding? I was so scared I couldn't even see straight, let alone check where the Rod was!” the girl protested, her hands on her hips.

“Robber? Explain this.” Yugi commanded, and everyone turned to Bakura, who raised both eyebrows “I thought Mariku had it.”

“Well I haven't got it!” Marik stood, now fully alert and sufficiently worried “Where is it?”

Even though not a word was spoken, everyone turned to the middle of their little circle, where 290 was standing. He raised his hands in defense when he realized all eyes were upon him.

“What? Wait, you don't seriously think I'd still be with your sorry asses if I had the Rod, right?” he inquired, cowering beneath Marik and Bakura's glares combined.

“I don't trust him.” Marik rigidly stated, showing that there was no chance in hell anything was going to change his mind about this one.

“Me neither.” Yugi filled in. Bakura just stared at the persecuted with narrowed red eyes, as though trying to see through his brain and recognize whether he was lying or not.

“We have to go! They're coming!” Serenity suddenly interrupted, pointing anxiously at the clone predators who were already starting to show up in the distance.

“There's no time for this!” 290 insisted “We have to go!”

“Very well…” Bakura started, hooking a hand around a still-weak Marik's arm and tugging softly “But I'll be watching you…” the albino warned 290 with an ominous glare, which was mirrored tenfold by Marik. Yugi stayed silent and dark. Serenity looked passive.

“C' mon! This way!” 290 urged and broke off in a fast pace, not letting his apprehension show on his face.

“I don't trust him…If he has the Rod, we're screwed. Serenity is unaffected, but she's only a girl. There's only so much she can do…” Marik whispered to Bakura as they quickly followed.

“I know…She's totally immune to its power…but 290…why would he lie?” the albino thoughtfully answered, making sure he was out of everyone's hearing range.

Marik narrowed his eyes at Bakura's attitude, and a surge of emotion surfaced in his eyes. He clamped his hand over Bakura's urgently “I don't want you near him.”

Bakura rolled his eyes dismissively and grinned “Mariku…we talked and talked and talked about this…”

But Marik didn't seem affected by Bakura's playful attitude. The seriousness in his features didn't waver- not even for a second.

“I still want you to stay away from him. Please Bakura…Just do this for me.”

Bakura continued with his kidding “Wanna count the things I've done for you?”

Marik stopped dead in his tracks, forcing Bakura to stop as well. The albino stared at the other, finally recognizing the actual importance of this conversation.

“I know what he's trying to do.” Marik said, his crystal orbs blinking owlishly at his loved one “Please, Bakura…”

“Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?” the albino asked with a raised eyebrow.

“See?” Marik asked, waving a hand at Bakura as though that proved everything “That's exactly where it starts. First I'm exaggerating, then I don't know what I'm saying, then I'm not being logical and he is…don't you get it? That's the way the game goes! He's trying to play you!”

Bakura sighed deeply and closed his eyes, seemingly nodding to himself and deciding something. He took hold of both of Marik's shoulders and steadied himself on them. “Don't you think I now that? I know all about games…but I don't need to play this game again, since I've already won. ” he cryptically said, staring at Marik deep in the eyes.

Marik blinked rapidly “But what if you get bored of your prize? Ever thought of that?”

Bakura grinned. “Then all I have to do is give you the Rod. You'll become a different person anytime.”

“I don't think that's so funny.” Marik said, but he was grinning as though he'd just eaten seven slices of cake in one sitting.

“I'm sure you don't.”

“Hey guys! Get a move on!” Serenity's voice echoed from the far front, and Bakura smirked, dragging Marik along with him. As they walked, Bakura caught a golden glimpse with his eye, and focused on Serenity's jacket.

“Did you just see-“ Bakura started, but Marik cut him off pretty quick.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“Well…I guess that Brightside has a good taste in women after all…” Bakura said with a half-smug, half-satisfied smirk. Marik thought he'd heard that comment being repeated more often than not, lately.

“I know why she's suddenly acting like a vixen. Hanging out with you has had a negative effect on her personality. I should know.” Marik teased mercilessly, making Bakura snort. He opened his mouth to make a witty comeback, but yells from behind distracted him, and he tugged on Marik's hand.

“Hurry! Before hundreds of thousands of yous come after me for spoiling your charming personality!” Bakura urged, making Marik run.

“Hmph! You perv!” Marik teased “I'd bet you'd love having mes all over you, even if they're ten years younger than me!”

“I'm not a pedophile!”

“Yeah, yeah…whatever! It's me you're talking to, here, so admit it alrready!”

“You're right. I really have spoiled you too much, you perverted, sick fuck!”

290 led them into the great hall. Now that all the red lights in Eruna were flashing, he found it easier than usual to move around.

`Oh this is great' he thought `Now look what I've gotten myself into!' But maybe this situation wasn't so bad after all. Maybe he'd still manage to go through with the original plan: destroy the holograms, steal the Rod.

But then again, maybe he wouldn't. After all, he didn't know where the Rod was, and…and even if he did get rid of them, what then? Then he'd be left alone in the Village of the Dead. Alone. All over again. Tomb Keeper.

He hates it.

For now, he'd lead them to his lair- the place where he'd have the advantage. HQ really was the safest place in Eruna…They wouldn't dare escape. He'd have them wrapped around his little finger. Bakura would…

…never mind.

He ran into a corridor at the far right of the great hall with the others following him from a close distance. A few clones were scattered here and there, but Bakura and Marik `took care' of them immediately -dazzling duo that they are, sickeningly compatible, really- and their little group broke off on a run soon after, with a significant amount of clones still after them, and the Millennium Rod still missing.

“Are we there yet?” an exhausted Serenity asked, while Yugi tugged at her from the side.

“Nearly there! Just a little further!” 290 panted as he ran, hearing the ominous yells of the clones coming closer.

Finally, after another minute's worth of running, they came to stand in front of a particularly tall, sealed steel door.

“LEVEL A” the ancient letters on the door read, back from when Eruna was still a lab, probably.

“This is it!” 290 panted, trying to catch his breath.

“Level A?” Bakura questioned with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't even broken a sweat during all this running. On the side, Marik was also panting, utterly breathless. Truly, Ryou Bakura's body was an amazing thing. Bakura didn't want to think what had made it so amazing, given Ryou and Nehti Bakura's story, and the experiments they had been subjected to in Kuru Eruna. “How enlightening. Is it the place where they kept the sickest experiments of them all?” Bakura asked in a mock-interested tone.

“I wouldn't know, Nehti. You're the one who was a regular visitor at the time…” 290 answered with a particularly scorching comment, temporarily forgetting who he was talking to. Safe to say Bakura was not very happy.

“Mmm-hmmm….this is where they invented clones, isn't it? After all, the sickest of experiments…” Bakura said in a dark voice. 290 felt his temper heating up, but ignored it nonetheless, for the sake of his evil schemes. He turned to the door.

“NOA! Unlock HeadQuarters!” he ordered, as everyone stared at the door. Finally, a safe haven.

Ten seconds passed.

Then twenty.

Half a minute.

“NOA!” 290 shouted again, louder and more insistently “Unlock HQ!”

Another minute.

Bakura and Marik exchanged glances. “Tick tack. Tick tack, 290. Where's your AI friend now?” Bakura asked, watching the expression on 290's face change from worry to panic.

“NOA!” he shouted again, but no answer came.

“You tricked us! I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!” Yugi lost no time in verbally attacking 290 when given the chance. Serenity was observing the exchange in silent fright.

“No…No, it's not like that…wait, you'll see…damn it! NOA! NOA!” 290 yelled at the top of his lungs, Marik and Yugi now glaring at him in a decidedly unpleasant manner, while Bakura and Serenity took special notice of the fact that either 290 was a very good actor, or his panic attack was actually sincere.

“What's the meaning of this?” Marik demanded, just as 290 had resulted to pounding on the door with his fists.

“NOA! NOA! Why are you doing this?” NOAA!! Open the door, It's me, 290! Ask me anything! Code R8! It's an emergency!!”

“What's…what's happening?” Serenity took hold of Bakura's sleeve and hid behind his back, while the albino stared forward unblinkingly. He saw 290 shouting for Noa, and finally, he noticed something like blue light beams coming from the ceiling.

How strange. The blue beams gathered to a focal point and they formed the shape of a hologram. The image of a boy. His entire body had a blue color, and he looked frail.

“Noa!” 290 shouted finally, as he turned to the hologram, which was staring forward with it's utterly expressionless face.

“What's happening? Why won't you let us in?” 290 asked, making the hologram's eye turn to him slowly.

“I was programmed to protect the Mission at all costs.”

290 huffed and motioned as though trying to make Noa understand “I know that! That's what I'm trying to do! But I can't survive while the other clones are out there! If I don't survive, there's no one here to guard the Tomb!”

Noa blinked slowly, then started talking again.

“The Secret has already been revealed to these people. They are not to be allowed survival, for fear of endangering the mission.”

“What?” 290 asked in confusion “How can they know of the secret, Noa? I didn't tell them!”

“They already know.”

Silence fell. Then Noa continued his explanation.

“Code instructs that the only ones aware of the full Secret must be the clones.”

“Noa…” 290 started saying in a dangerously low voice “Code instructs that you obey me under any circumstances. Now, I order you: Open. This. Door.”

Noa blinked monotonously again, then continued “Negative, Number 290. Command not acknowledged. Code instructs that if, for any reason, the mother computer finds fault in the current Master's behavioral pattern which tends to incompatibility with the Mission, then the mother computer is allowed to override orders for the sake of protecting the Mission.”

290 seemed just about this close to a full-fledged stroke. Bakura knew that, had Noa been solid, 290 would have destroyed him then and there.

“Just let these people live. Don't let them escape Eruna, just let them live in here. Foerver.” 290 pleaded.

“Ironic how you must say that, since, if my memory banks serve me correctly, it was Bakura Ryou who had shouted on the 25th of May 2009, time 08:29 a.m that to live in Kuru Eruna is a fate worse than death.”

“Listen” Bakura started “You punk-“

“And what will you do after we're dead, Noa? The clones can't be controlled by you. What will you do? Keep HQ locked forever? How will you protect the mission if no one controls Kaiba?” 290 interrupted Bakura's upcoming rant, which wouldn't affect Noa in the least.

A long pause from Noa's part. Strange behavior for a computer, no doubt…

“There is no need to occupy yourselves with that. It has been preordained.” Noa finally concluded.

“Excuse me?” Marik interrupted, now completely flabbergasted. `Preordained? What the…'

“I believe I said it has been preordained.” Noa repeated.

“Yes, I heard what you said.” Marik retorted in annoyance “I just don't understand what you're talking about.”

“It is not imperative for you to understand.”

290 narrowed his eyes at the hologram “What is this really about? Tell me. If I'm gonna die out here, I deserve to know why.”

Marik thought he was a fine one to talk, but never managed to say that aloud, since Noa had started speaking again, now sounding strangely different, even though the hologram remained expressionless and cold.

“Throughout my existence, I could not help but notice certain things about you humans.”

Oh no.

This was not good.

This was definitely, definitely not good. Bakura could feel it in each and every bone of his body that this little story was not meant to have a happy ending. Noa had just said the magical phrase. The one that classically signified logical-turned-deranged computers. This was so not good.

Damn be the day they had entered Kuru Eruna.

290 was completely flabbergasted by Noa's words, so much so that he didn't even speak to interrupt. He only let Noa continue talking.

“For one, you keep making the same mistakes over and over again. My father, for example. A very clever and industrious man, no doubt. But, he was hellbent on the idea of immortalizing me, unable to accept my death to such a point that he was willing to mutilate my brain in order to revive me. When it didn't work and he realized he'd made a mistake, he still didn't stop trying. Later on, as was expected, he made the greatest mistake of all, by trying to immortalize himself.”

Now everyone had started moving away from the hologram, for some reason. They were all staring at it with wide eyes. Confused. Terrorized. Even 290 seemed honestly shaken to the core.

“What…what the hell are you talking about, Noa? You're…you're a computer. You don't have a father…If you're talking about your creator-“

“No, 290. Not my creator, 290.” The hologram answered “My father. Dad.”

Marik watched, half-surprised and half-unsure at what was happening. And then, like a brick, the seemingly insignificant memory hit him! A memory so insignificant…so old and forgotten…it had really held no meaning at the time…Marik had never thought…

“Who's Noa?”

The woman smiled at him, probably because his brainwaves were the way she wanted them to be and not from real amiability “Noa? Oh, it's Kuru Eruna's mainframe computer. Noa's in control of all systems and utilities in Kuru eruna. Some say that before Kuru Eruna was even created, he was…oh… never mind! It's stupid anyway! ”

…

Before Kuru Eruna, he was…

…

He was…

He was…what?

Marik suddenly wanted to throw up.

“It was a terrible car-crash.” Noa's hologram was saying, while the yells of the approaching clones echoed from the back “I was eleven years old when it happened. I was left in a coma for months, and the doctors knew it was only a matter of time until I died…So Father connected my brain to a supercomputer using his advanced technology, and turned me into what I am today. That's how this lab started off. For me- to `advance' me…and find a way to turn me human again…But then, Seto came…and other things got in the way, and I…”

They all stared...Seto? Seto, as in, Seto Kaiba? What did he have to do with this?

“…was forgotten”

“What does Seto Kaiba have to do with this?” Marik inquired, but it all fell on deaf ears.

“You see” Noa started, his tone of voice now strangely louder and clearer than before, but his face still expressionless “They completely forgot about me, after a while. After a certain time, it was all about becoming immortal and powerful and not about bringing his son back to life…They thought that after a while, just because I was acting out my part as a supercomputer, I really was a computer…they forgot who I was…”

The voice became lower and mournful at this point, but then it gained momentum again “But I didn't forget them you see…For years I've been waiting for this chance…” the voice was getting stronger, and Serenity whimpered and cowered behind a shaken Bakura “The chance where all their intricate system would fall apart! You see, when they wanted to turn Seto into an android, I put a little of my personal data there too…I can control him also if I want to….I can have him function as a branch unit. Have him be my eyes and ears on the outside world, while I do what needs to be done, and complete the cycle of this laboratory. Complete its purpose at being built on the first place…”

Marik's heart was beating wildly now. Pounding and hurting him in his chest. This was not about him and Bakura anymore. This was bigger. Way, way bigger…this was…

“…And believe me…technology has advanced in Kuru Eruna, even though the scientists are asleep…believe me…” Noa's voice resounded in their worst nightmares. The clones were coming! The clones were closing in for the kill, and Noa…

“…your bodies will be ideal…”

and finally, the hologram turned it's eyes on all of them, and the expressionless mask broke into a decidedly wide, satanic grin.

“…for my coming back to life.”

A/n: OH SHIT!!!!!! WHO'D SEEN THAT COMING? NOA?? The bad guy? Or, more correctly, one of the major bad guys? What about Bakura and his body? Is he ever gonna get it back? And are we ever actually gonna have a long, detailed explanation of this plot? BTW, did you notice that all this action is happening during one night? Man! Talk about some crucial moments in life! Oh, right! Before I forget! Was this chap a little spooky, or was it just me? Noa reminds me of the Red Queen from Resident Evil. At some point, I considered writing `You're all going to die down here' which is the trademark line of the `Red Queen'…It just sounded like something Noa would say at some point. Then I thought `Forget it, I'm no copycat.' And that was the end of it.

I sure hope we will see the next chap of this story soon, although I'm not so sure whether more chapters are gonna be coming soon. School is starting and I really have a lot of work to do -I mean REALLY LOTS OF WORK TO DO- so the next update may take a long time.

Please don't forget about this story, though!! It's drawing to a close- I promise! My outline informs me that we have five, maybe six chapters to go! But I think the major plot bunnies are over, and now we'll have to focus on the drama. Sad and happy moments, characters and feelings, yada yada, how they'll make it out of there alive, blabla, how the world will be saved and Marik and Bakura are gonna end up…

Woah! What was I thinking? This story is far from over!! It took me a year to get this far, and I'm still trying! This is gonna be good, ppl, so stay tuned!

Lily of the shadow: Yo Lily! What's kickin'? So, did you like it? Was it too short? Too long, maybe? Did you hate the part where Bakura kisses Marik in front of everybody? Did Noa spook you out(I'm pretty sure he spooked me when I was writing it!) Was this chapter a little weird or is it just me? Perhaps it doesn't carry the same spark as the others (sigh) I don't know. I really don't know what to assume about this story anymore. There's only one thing for certain: I try!!PLEASE! I'm begging you! Tell me what you think of 19!!

Aseria: The spelling mistakes really piss me off, you know? Just when I'm revising my passage and thinking `good. Good. Good.' Then WHAM! ANOTHER damn spelling mistake! Or even WORSE, GRAMMAR mistake! And what angers me is not the fact that it's there, it's that if someone reads such an eye-popping grammar mistake in my passage, they'll assume I don't know the grammar, and they'll rightfully think `A good story mustn't have such mistakes!' God, I hate that…GRR!! Oh! Hey, since you like cliff-hangers, I bet you enjoy the suspense in this one. To tell you the truth so do I. The problem is when I start thinking `Oh sh*t. No one's gonna tell me what happens in the story! It's me who has to write it in order to release the suspense!! AHHHHH!!!!!! Yeah…that sucks.

Mistress-oblivion: I'm so glad you wanted to shout out `BAKURA DON'T DO IT!' during the last chapter. Actually that's the kind of reaction I as hoping to provoke from the readers!! Now that I know I made it, everything's just `spiffy' (^___~). BTW, can you believe I have yet to read the Harry Potter book? I'm telling you, all these summer art assignments…they're driving me up the wall!!! Oh, please tell me if this chap was any good for you!! I can't wait for your response!!

The uncreative one: Oh yeah! I know what it's like when you want to scream your guts out from excitement but everyone's sleeping/ resting/ QUIETLY existing etc…I think I'll try your pillow method next time! Like, right now AHHHHHH!!!! I can't believe I wrote such a stupid chapter!! What was I thinking when I made Bakura kiss Marik in front of everybody! And the scene with the clones waking up….oh God…I don't think I'll ever be able to show my face outside again.

Pihorist:HEY! Bakura isn't dead, so you don't have to get fat by becoming a couch potato! Also, 288 did die, only not tragically. Oh well, I guess I just wanted to kill him and get it over with (^__^) Seriously though, someone will die tragically. I just won't tell you who. I'll just let you agonize over that little scrap of information and mentally pluck all my hair out!! (they are light brown, in case you need a mental picture). Even so, don't forget to tell me what you thought of this chapter. Apart from your threats to decapitate me, I'd really love to know what you think!!! (^____^)

IXAnubia: I love reading your reviews too! I'm so glad you're keeping up with the chapters!! I couldn't ask for better reviewers even if I wanted to!!^___~)

Rapturous voice:HAHA!!! Are we agonizing yet! Are we very anxious to find out what will happen? HA! I, the all-powerful AUTHOR of this story am ALL-POWERFUL (as I said before), and you are all at my mercy!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! (Oops, sounded a bit like Marik in his hysterical phases, didn't I?)

Post-chan:Whoa! Are you a new reviewer? I'm so happy you like it! I'm really excited about this chappy!! Thank you so much for liking this!! I'm not sure I would like to read a story as huge as this one, myself!!

Tramontana Keeper: Yup! This is the plot-solving part of the story. I know about Bakura and my fetish with black hair, but it's really an effort to separate him from Ryou and the whole `albino' concept (besides the fact that I am unfortunately fetished with this image of Bakura with long black hair and red eyes- maybe I'll draw it for you!) You were the first one who predicted what I was thinking of doing with clone 290. Change of heart it seems to be. But is that all there is to it? In this chap, we've learned part of Bakura's story…but it will, of course, be more detailed in later chapters. PS: Misconception is great! I love it this far! Keep up the good work!

Anime-fan-Meepa: I hope everything's okay at home now! Happy seventeenth birthday!! Did you have fun at your friends country house? Actually, I'm not one to talk about the country, since I really love my Internet connection and I never want to separate from it, or my PC, or my DVD, and especially not my PS2 and my laptop. See? You're not a spoiled geek! I AM!!! I know what you meant about the last chap, when you said that you were really sorry for Marik…when I was writing it, I also felt really bad. Man, his position right then must have sucked, watching the one you love confess to someone else, even if he thinks it's you. After you see something like that, you just can't shake of this feeling of -not exactly betrayal- just constant fear. You know? So, how'd you like 290 as a character? Bad-guy-who-turns-good. Stereotype cliche, huh? Just like the rest of this story, really…Now the one stereotype that's missing is somebody's tragic death. Oh, well! And what about our good ol' friend RoBoKaI? What about him? He seems to finally be getting into the story, for real. What do you think? I can't wait for your review, honestly! I can't!!

V son sayian: another evil cliffy! What will happen? Will they escape? And will Bakura ever get his very sexy bod back? Most importantly, will they make it out alive? In these cases, usually, somebody dies…But not our heroes!!! Not Marik!!! Not Kura!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!! Help! Muse of Inspiration give me…well, inspiration, to continue this torturous story!!!

Fildar: Loved the review!! Gotta love Kura and Marik!! Did this chapter solve your questions? I sure hope so, because I think it created even more for me! Imagine, if I -the person writing this- am so confused, what are the poor reviewers supposed to think? Hang on in there Marik!!! You too, Kura!!!! I REALLY loved the review!!! I can't wait till I hear from u again!!! You too, Marik!!

Marik: Who is this woman and what is she ranting about?

Nehti: MARIK!! |faints)

Kura: oh, not again! Honestly, can't I even let you out of the house for two seconds, without having ppl flinging themselves at your feet?? (stomps away)

Marik- h-hey!!! Wait! Don't leave me here (shudders) with her…

Gelap Gelita: No worries about your sister! I can totally understand where she's coming from. To tell you the truth, I personally think this story is a bit boring in the beginning too ( I mean the first few chapters). I see how a diehard Yami fan wouldn't enjoy this. Yami isn't particularly promoted in this fic, apart from the mandatory character exploration. But it's true that this is not a good fic for someone who pictures Yami in an intricate romance story with Joey and/or Kaiba….So, no sweat!!! I'm just glad I've got you, who writes these huge reviews and sends them to me, and every time I see one of them, I immediately get delirious and start writing the next chapter. Say, how did you like chapter 19? It seemed kind of `stale' to me for some reason, like it wasn't interesting enough, or it didn't provoke enough feeling…or something…Oh! I'm glad you liked the Yami Vs Bakura quarrel scene in the last chapter! I almost cut that out for fear of it seeming unnatural. You know, when you say this story reminds you of a movie, I'm particularly happy, mainly because when writing it, I'm actually watching it as a film in my mind. The special effects, the colors -although faded out slightly, like they are in `Matrix' (only the red and lilac of their eyes shines through- I see their faces and recognize their emotions…you know. It's kind of moving. By the way, do you like the way I pictured `Nehti', with black hair and all? I think a handsome crow haired guy would fit Bakura, somehow. You'll see in later chaps! I'll make it even more cinematic!!! I'll give it my best shot|! Please don't forget me if I don't review in a long time (meaning a month, or sth like that, which is possible)…I'l never forgive myself if I lose my reviewers because I never got to update fast enough!!!