Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Soul Of The Night ❯ The Lost Child ( Chapter 15 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Lost Child

Bakura lead the group through the hallway.  His body remained tense as he followed the Tombkeepers at a secure distance.  When the footfalls had ceased, he relaxed and looked around at the tomb illuminated only by sporadic torches.
“If this is Yami’s tomb, is this where Malik grew up?”
Bakura nodded. “Yes, Ry. This is the very tomb where Malik would grow up...and Marik would change Malik’s destiny forever.”
Robbie squinted as he struggled to see through the darkness. “How could Malik live down here?”
Aten wrinkled his nose. “It smells bad now. I hate to see it in five thousand years.”
Bakura’s nose and spiky batwings twitched at a familiar scent in the air.  He stopped as he walked along the wall. “Ry, do you smell that?”
“No,” Ryou said quietly.
“I smell...something bittersweet,” Aten said.
Bakura grinned and licked his lips. “That, my boy, is the scent of blood.”
Ryou swallowed nervously as he felt waves of pleasure and lust spreading through his yami’s mind.  “Bakura, are you alright?”
Bakura walked ahead, followed by Aten. Robbie and Ryou watched the other two men walk into a room. Robbie looked into a room to see a stone slab sprinkled with tiny drops and one line of blood. Bakura and Aten stood on both sides of the stone altar carved with hieroglyphics.
Ryou’s eyes widened and covered his mouth. “It’s the stone altar where Malik was chained as a little boy and tortured!”
Bakura’s fingertips traced the line of blood. The yami licked his fingers free of blood. “This blood is mine.”
“That means your younger self is here!” Ryou gasped. “He must be hurt!”
“If he’s here, Heaven has to be here, too!” Robbie exclaimed, looking around excitedly.
Aten looked up at Bakura. “I remember the same kind of altar in the Shadow Realm when grandfather carved my back.”
Ryou looked at Bakura and saw the yami staring at him with a mixture of raw, unfettered lust and restraint. Ryou slowly approached Bakura and put his hand on Bakura’s arm. Yami Bakura turned his head to his husband. //I wonder how long it will take me to grab Ryou and take him on this altar of stone.  I can have him begging and screaming my name in no time.//
“Baby? Bakura, we should leave.”
Robbie watched Yami Bakura grab Ryou’s arms and give a seductive growl. Robbie and Aten watched Bakura pull Ryou into a deep, hungry kiss. “Bakura?”
“Father Bakura?” Aten asked.
Ryou’s eyes widened as his husband kissed him deeply. On Bakura’s tongue, Ryou could taste a hint of coppery liquid.
“Father Bakura, we should leave,” Aten said.
Bakura wrapped his arms around Ryou, pulling him close. Ryou placed his hands against Bakura’s chest and tried to push him away.
Robbie shook Bakura’s shoulder. “Bakura, we have to find your younger self and Heaven. They have to be in here somewhere.”
Bakura looked deeply into Ryou’s eyes. “You are so incredibly sexy by torchlight. I want you so…..bad.”
Ryou swallowed anxiously. “Bakura, angel, I know the blood is affecting you. I think we should find your younger self and help Aten and Robbie find their daughter.”
Bakura bit his lip as his trembling hands released Ryou. His breaths came in sharp gasps as he looked at his hands.  “Ryou....why....I can’t resist it.”
Ryou stepped to Bakura and took his husband’s shaking right hand. “Come with me, Bakura. Let’s go.”
Robbie watched Ryou lead Bakura out of the room and holding his lover’s hand. “I was worried there for a moment, Aten,”
Aten nodded. “Father Bakura gets affected by blood. He’s always been like that as long as I remember.”
“I think your mom is right, Aten. The fruit never falls far from the tree,” Yami Bakura said, breathing heavy.
“Aten! Robbie!” Ryou called from the hallway. Both teens ran into the hallway as Bakura walked briskly down the hallway. “He smells more blood down the hallway.”
Bakura followed the scent of blood down the hallway until he came to an intersection. He looked up and down the hallway and paused. He quickly turned left.
Robbie and Aten heard Heaven crying from the end of the hallway. “Heaven Raine!” Robbie exclaimed as he rushed as far as his walking stick could take him.  Bakura turned into a room with two cells. Heaven was sitting on the floor of the prison cell, crying and waving her hands. Little Marik and Little Bakura turned their heads quickly and gasped in surprise. Both boys ran to the front of the cell and held onto the prison bars. “Bakura! Marik!” Yami Bakura exclaimed.
“Heaven!” Robbie called as he raced in front of the prison cell.
Heaven turned her head with tears running down her cheeks. She reached out for Robbie as she sobbed.
Robbie grabbed the bars and shook them angrily. “How are we going to get them out?”
Ryou and Aten arrived in the room. Ryou ran in front of the cage and kneeled in front of the two young boys reaching out for him with tears in their eyes. Ryou hugged the two boys through the metal bars as Bakura examined the lock of the cell door. Aten ran beside Robbie and tried to coax Heaven towards the front of the cage.
“How did you get here?” Little Marik asked as he looked up at Ryou.
“Through Yami’s father’s tomb. Don’t worry, boys. We’ll get you out.”
Little Bakura looked up at Ryou sadly. “Did you bring food? I don’t feel well.”
Little Marik nodded as he held the metal bars.  He touched his forehead against the metal. The blond boy began to weep.
“Don’t worry, Marik. We’ll get you out of here,” Ryou said softly, reaching through the bars and caressing Little Marik’s blond hair.
Bakura growled as he used the tip of his dagger to manipulate the lock. The thief heard the lock snap after a long time of trying.  Yami Bakura opened the door as Little Bakura and Little Marik ran out of the prison cell into each of Ryou’s arms.
Both boys wrapped their arms around Ryou and sobbed. “Shhh, boys. Everything is going to be alright.” Ryou felt Little Bakura trembling and whimpering in his arm.  “My poor, beautiful boy.”
Aten and Robbie raced into the cell. Aten brought Heaven into his arms and cuddled her against his body. Robbie rubbed Heaven’s back and kissed her cheeks repeatedly. “Heaven, I was so worried about you!” Aten rocked the crying baby in his arms.  Robbie kissed the baby girl’s cheek and tried to calm her.  Heaven’s piercing wail rose into the air.  “She won’t stop crying,” Robbie said.
“She’s probably hungry,” Aten suggested. “Hey, Little Bakura. Did anyone feed you and Heaven?”
“No!”
Robbie looked at Aten. “I don’t think she’ll be able to eat anything we have left over that Seto gave us.”
Aten looked at his mother hugging the two whimpering boys. “We have only one more choice.” Aten walked up to his mother. “Mother, I have a favor to ask. An odd favor, but I have to ask.”
Ryou looked up as Yami Bakura kneeled beside him. Little Bakura quickly ran into Yami Bakura’s open arms.  Ryou rubbed Little Marik’s back. “What is it?”
“Heaven can’t eat anything that we have left over from Seto. Would you mind.....umm.....” Aten shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “This is hard to ask, but....”
Robbie limped towards Ryou, finding the courage to ask Ryou what his husband couldn’t vocalize. “Can you breastfeed Heaven?”
“Robbie, that‘s my mom you’re talking to!”
“Well, you were tripping over your tongue,” Robbie said flatly.
“I don’t know if it will work. I can try." Ryou looked at Little Marik. “I’ll be right back.”
Little Marik sniffled as Ryou released him. The little blond boy slowly walked towards Yami Bakura. Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes at the blond child.  Yami Marik’s venomous words replayed in his head. The little boy sniffled as he stepped closer to him. The child’s toes barely peeked out from under his long, white Noble robe.
//After all you put me through, why would I welcome you into my arms?//
/Yami, that little boy didn’t do anything to you./ Ryou said as he took Heaven into his arms.
//No, but he will. He will be a cruel, merciless asshole!//
Ryou turned his head to Bakura. /Yami, look at that boy. While he may be that way when he gets older, right now he’s scared and hungry. Show the little boy some compassion. If not for him, for me./
Yami Bakura sighed and slowly opened the other arm for Little Marik. The blond boy ran into Yami Bakura’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” Little Marik sniffled. “I’m sorry I caused so much trouble.”
Yami Bakura sighed. “I know, Marik.  Don’t cry.”
“I hate my older self! He threw me in there!”
Yami Bakura felt himself waver on his knees. In his arms, he felt Little Bakura’s arm fall to the side. His body went limp.
Aten watched Yami Bakura’s arms drop. Yami Bakura fell forward onto his hands. His head dropped as his arms quivered. Little Bakura fell onto the ground, his breathing shallow.  
“Mother!” Aten exclaimed as he kneeled between both Bakuras.  
Ryou emerged from the cage a moment later and rushed to Little Bakura’s side. Ryou caressed the boy’s spiky, white hair. “Sweetheart, are you alright?”
The child closed his eyes. Yami Bakura held his stomach weakly. “Hungry.”
Aten raced for the bag of food. He handed Little Bakura a date. “Eat this, kid.”
Little Bakura opened his mouth and chewed weakly. Little Marik looked sadly at his friend. “Maybe I can find food. There has to be some here somewhere.”
“I’ll go with him,” Aten said.
Ryou sat on the ground and brought Little Bakura onto his lap. He rocked the hungry boy. Yami Bakura turned his head. “Bakura, stay with us.”
Little Bakura opened his eyes slowly and looked into Ryou’s eyes. The hikari’s heart sank as he looked at the sunken eyes of the boy who had been rejected by his parents, rejected by the city in which he lived, and thrown in a dungeon cell to starve. Ryou heard the boy slow his breathing as he laid weakly in Ryou’s arms.
Ryou caressed the boy’s cheek. “Bakura, you are the strongest person I know.”
The child swallowed and licked his dry lips. “Why?”
“Because I don’t know what I would do if I was alone and as young as you.”
Yami Bakura winced as Robbie helped him sit against the metal bars. Robbie held Heaven as he put a supportive hand on the adult Bakura’s shoulder.
“Are we too late for him?” Robbie asked nervously.
Ryou caressed Little Bakura’s cheek lightly. The hikari kissed the little boy’s forehead. “You’re such a beautiful boy,” Ryou whispered to the child. “You mean more to me than life itself.”
Yami Bakura watched his husband cradle his younger self.  I never believed him. I never wanted to believe that anyone could care for me.
/I always will, Yami./ Ryou responded through their mindlink.
Robbie grabbed the bag of food and handed it to Ryou. “Try giving him another one.”
“We can’t put too many in his tummy at once. He’ll get sick,” Ryou said, offering a leftover piece of duck to the boy.
Little Bakura opened his mouth and chewed hungrily on the small piece of duck. Ryou kept the boy sitting up to prevent him from choking. Robbie rocked the quieted Heaven in his arms. The baby girl wrapped her arms around Robbie.
“Ah Da!” Heaven squealed as she clutched onto Robbie and sucked on her fist.  
Ryou looked up at his husband. “Baby, are you alright?”
Yami Bakura sighed and nodded slowly. “I’ll be alright.”
Ryou fed the boy another piece of fruit from the bag and felt him relax in his arms. Little Marik and Aten returned. “I don’t know where anything is. I have never been here.”
“Who brought you here?” Robbie asked. “My older self,” Little Marik said with anger in his voice. “I don’t like him.”
Aten walked to Ryou holding the little boy-thief in his arms. “How are you feeling, little guy?”
“Tired,” Little Bakura yawned.
Little Marik held out his hands. “I am truly sorry about this, my friends.  I don’t know why the Big Me is doing this to all of you. You all seem really nice.”
Yami Bakura slowly rose to his feet. “You may not like your older self, Little Ishtar. However, Marik has been my friend and partner for ages.  I want to know what happened to him and how we can change him back.”
“You mean, he wasn’t always bad?”
Bakura shook his head. “No. In fact, it was the good in him that attracted me to him in the first place. When I first met...umm...you....you had left your father and you had found a pretty girl. Yami Marik was so naive about many things.  He had no idea how to be a thief or steal a money purse.” Bakura grinned. “Yami Marik was a real professional once he learned.”
Little Marik looked up at Yami Bakura. “Stealing is against the Word of Ra.”
“The Egyptian gods say many things, child.  But the one constant is Marik always preached the Word of Ra.  He worshipped Life. I worshipped Death. We complimented each other...like night and day....Light and Dark.”
Ryou looked down and saw Little Bakura snuggled close to him sleeping quietly.  Ryou caressed the boy’s cheek. “Beautiful boy.”
Yami Bakura looked down at Ryou. “What do you think, Ry?”
“We don’t know if the Tombkeepers will return. This is probably a bad place to camp for the night.”
Robbie held Heaven in his arms. “I agree with Ryou.  If the Tombkeepers return, they know this place a heck of alot better than we do. We have what we came for.”
Aten nodded. “We should get out of here, Father Bakura.”
Yami Bakura nodded. “I’m inclined to agree. Ry, do you want me to carry him?”
Ryou stood up and cuddled Little Bakura against his chest. The little future thief rested his head on Ryou’s left shoulder, his bony legs dangling limp at Ryou’s sides.  
Aten, Robbie, Yami Bakura, and Ryou stepped out of the room. Robbie turned his head when he didn’t see Little Marik following them.
“Aren’t you coming with us?”
The blond boy looked up at Robbie. “Do...do you still want me around? Even after I caused all this trouble?”
“You didn’t cause it, Marik. We were worried about you just as much as we were worried about Bakura and Heaven.”
Little Marik smiled a little. “Really?”
“Really, kiddo. Now come with me before we have to run to catch up with them.”
Yami Bakura turned to Robbie walking beside Little Marik. “Ishtar, do you know how to get out of here?”
“How the heck should I know?” Robbie responded.
“Wrong Ishtar, Morgan,” Yami Bakura said, pointing to Little Marik. “Marik, how do we get out of here? Do you remember?”
Little Marik approached Yami Bakura. “I remember a staircase to the surface.”
Ryou cradled the little thief against his body as he felt the baby hiccup. When the unborn baby hiccuped he felt the baby jump. The hikari’s eyes and ears kept vigilant as the group moved through the dimly lit hallways.
/I can’t imagine what it was like for Marik growing up in an environment like this.  It must have been very difficult./
//I can understand why he swore vengeance in Battle City.  It makes sense.// Yami Bakura said. //I’d be pissed off, too, if this was my lot in life.//
Little Bakura raised his arms in his sleep and wrapped them around Ryou’s neck in a hug.  Ryou smiled and kissed the boy’s forehead. The boy’s quiet whimper made Ryou bite his lip and smile. /Yami, you’re so cute.  I wish we could bring him back to our time./
“We can’t do that,” Bakura responded turning to Ryou. “We have to leave him here.”
Ryou looked down at the child in his arms. “I know, but....he doesn’t have anyone.”
Yami Bakura approached his hikari and put his hand on the sleeping boy’s back. “Ry, I know what is going on.”
Little Marik looked up at Aten. “I don’t get it. What is he talking about?”
“Ry, I know you feel bad for him. I also that right now, your maternal instincts are in full swing.”
Ryou looked down as he rested his head against Little Bakura’s spiky hair.  “Yami, what’s going to happen to him?”
Yami Bakura looked at his younger self. “The boy is going to grow up playing beside the Nile. He’s going to learn how to become a Master Thief. When he gets older, he’s going to find a beautiful girl and make a baby with her. He will try to foil the evil pharaoh’s plans. Then, one day he will wake up starving, be tortured, and killed when he can’t fight back anymore...when he has no more strength left in him. That is how this boy….I….will die.” Bakura sighed. “I don‘t want that fate, Ry.”
“If we take him back home with us, then maybe you won’t die as a teenager.”
Bakura shook his head. “We don‘t know the repercussions if we return with him. We may not even be able to bring him with us.”
“I can’t let him die,” Ryou whispered as a tear crept down his cheek. “He needs to die an old man in a warm bed, not as a boy of nineteen.”
Yami Bakura sighed and turned to the others. “Little Marik, can you take Aten and Robbie ahead to look for a way out of here? Ry and I will be right there.”
Aten and Robbie hesitantly broke from Ryou and Bakura.
“Bakura, I can’t let this boy suffer.  He doesn’t deserve to die at nineteen alone, hungry, and murdered in cold blood.”
Yami Bakura’s hand caressed the boy’s spiky, white hair. The child’s small body slept peacefully against Ryou. “He must. Look at me, Ry. The boy must die, but you have to remember that he is me. Do I want to die at nineteen? No. I know you don’t want the child to die, baby. But remember that this little boy....is me.” Bakura pat his chest his his open hand. “This heart stopped beating millennia
ago."
Ryou kissed Little Bakura’s cheek again and rocked him slightly in his arms. “I know, Bakura, but it doesn’t make it easier.”
Yami Bakura kissed Ryou’s lips. “I know right now you want to mother the boy.  It’s your instincts preparing to kick in for when our son is born."
Ryou sniffled. “I know, yami. I keep trying to fight it.”
“You can’t fight what you feel you know is right. You feel bad for the boy and you want to protect him and take him under your wing. That’s what has always made you a good mother and the person with the biggest heart I know.” Bakura caressed Ryou’s cheek tenderly. “That is one of the many things that I love about you."
Ryou nodded slowly. “Thank you, baby.”
“You deserve so much more than I can give you, Ry.  I really appreciate you and I love you very much for what you are doing.”
Ryou slightly smiled. “Well, I couldn’t do it without you.”
Bakura grinned. “It was fun, wasn’t it?”
“Are you coming, mother and Father Bakura?” Aten called.
Yami Bakura caressed Ryou’s cheek. “We’ll take care of the boy as long as we are here. I wonder what my brother knows about returning us to our time. We have to find the Tombkeepers. They looked like they were prepared for war.”
Ryou swallowed nervously. “What about our daughter? What about the palace?”
Yami Bakura put his hand on Ryou’s shoulder. “She needs our help if the Tombkeepers attack the palace.”
“She’s not the only one. Seto, Yugi, Joey, all our friends are in the palace.”
“We don’t have much time, Ry.”
Little Marik called out in the darkness, Ryou and Bakura hurried to the little blond child. “I found the steps!” the boy jumped up and down excitedly.
“Good boy, Ishtar,” Yami Bakura said as he lead the group up the steps. The thief pushed against the closed doors. Both doors opened to reveal the light of the sun.  Yami Bakura stepped into the light and helped Robbie step out with his walking stick and his free arm holding Heaven. Ryou stepped out of the tomb and covered his mouth as he looked at the city.
“Guys, look!” Ryou exclaimed.
Little Marik, Robbie, Yami Bakura, and Aten looked at the royal palace rising into the distance. Yami Bakura’s eyes widened as he looked at the smoke and flames rising from the royal palace.
“Baby girl,” Ryou whispered with a quiver in his voice. “Bakura, Aria is there!”
Yami Bakura clenched his fists. “It looks like the palace is not the only place which sustained damage. Look at the city.”
Heaven turned her head to look at the scattered fires burning through the city.  Robbie held her close with his free hand. “This is terrible!”
“Sister! Uncle Seto! Uncle Puppy! Father Bakura, what can we do?”
Above the royal palace, the Winged Dragon of Ra rested on a dome.  The golden dragon’s tail waved side-to-side.
“The first thing we need to do is find a safe place for your mother and the children.”
Little Marik looked up at Bakura. “What about my home?”
Yami Bakura sighed. “If your father is there, I’m not leaving my family there.  It just needs to be a temporary shelter.”
Little Marik stepped close to Aten and held onto Aten’s leg. “What has the older me done?”
Aten reached down and pet the child’s blond hair. “Don’t worry, Marik. Get on my back.” Aten kneeled on the ground.  Little Marik wrapped his arms around Aten’s neck from behind. Aten held the boy’s legs and stood up, holding the younger version of his father. “What if that doesn’t work?”
“Then we find another home,” Yami Bakura said.
Ryou watched the golden dragon hovering over the palace with trepidation.  “Aria, please be alright.”
************************
Umi held onto Aria tightly as the girl cried.  Umi pet Aria’s spiky, white hair. Kai and Rhett wrapped their arms around his legs in fear. Yugi and Joey looked below into the courtyard where Glenn was helping injured soldiers and Tombkeepers.
Above Glenn hovered a Tombkeeper armed with a spear.
Joey shook his head sadly. “Such a waste, Yugi.”
“I’m lucky Marik didn’t kill me.”
“Good thing he didn’t.”
Everyone in the room turned towards the door as it opened slowly. Umi and Joey watched in amazement as Yami Marik and Malik stepped through the door dressed in pharaoh’s garb.  Knee-length white kilts with a bull tail belt hung off the hips of both men. Golden sandals decorated the feet of both Egyptians. Malik chuckled as his left hand cradled the Millennium Puzzle around his neck.
“What are you doing with the Millennium Puzzle?” Umi asked.
“We are the pharaohs....and your new kings,” Malik said. “This rightfully belongs to us.”
Joey clenched his fists angrily. “What did you do with the real pharaoh?”
“He’s taking a Time Out in the dungeon where he belongs,” Yami Marik smiled. “He stole kingship from us and my bloodline.  That carries a severe sentence as punishment.”
Yugi looked up at Malik.  “Malik, what happened to you and Yami Marik?”
“We came back to our pasts to regain our rightful place as pharaoh.  I suffered my whole life in the name of the pharaoh. No more, Yugi Motou! We call the shots now!”
Yami Marik grinned as he crossed his arms against his chest. “I suggest you show us proper respect as king, Pharaoh’s Light, or you shall spend the rest of your days in the darkness of our dungeon.”
Malik walked toward Seto. Malik poked Seto with the Millennium Rod. “You now serve us.”
“I will never serve you. You are not the rightful pharaoh.”
“We are the pharaoh and you had better improve your tone,” Malik said. “If you choose not to serve us, you will pay with your life!” Malik drew his sword and stopped the blade just before he could behead Seto.
“Seto!” Joey called. “Don’t do this!”
Seto sighed and lowered his head. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Good boy,” Malik said, withdrawing his sword.
Yami Marik slowly approached the group of women. He caressed the cheek of one of the women. “All of you, in turn, belong to me, too.”
Malik laughed at the fear displayed in the woman’s face. “Feel the fear that I once felt, woman!”
Yami Marik quickly backhanded the woman, sending her to the ground. “That was fun and very satisfying.”
Seto turned to Yami Marik. “Keep your hands to yourself! How dare you strike an innocent woman!”
Yami Marik quickly punched Seto in the face. The High Priest staggered back, holding his face. Joey gasped and ran to his husband. “Seto, sit down!”
Yugi ran towards Seto and helped him sit.
Yami Marik looked at Aria in Umi’s arms. “If it isn’t the daughter of the Thief King.  You look afraid. So you should be, girl.”
Umi held Aria tighter against him. “Leave her alone, Marik. Stop this game and tell us what you want!”
Yami Marik walked casually to Umi. “I wanted to introduce myself and my Malik as your new kings.”
Kai looked up at Yami Marik. “Papa Marik?”
The yami looked down at the young boy. “What is it, my child?”
“Why are you angry?”
“Because people like the pharaoh have taken something from me and it wasn’t very nice of them,” Marik said as he leaned down to the boy.
Kai lowered his head. “If they say sorry, will you not be angry anymore?”
Yami Marik stood up. “Children are so gullible. They think that ‘sorry’ will make everything go away.”
Malik chuckled. “So innocent and naive.”
Yami Marik pat Kai on the head. “You will soon learn the way of the world, boy.” Malik walked towards Joey, holding up the glowing Millennium Rod. “My former mind-puppet, I have a job for you,”