A/N: This is my first attempt of an thief shipping story! Please be nice to me! :) And thank you for reading. Also, the none evil Marik's personality is really hard to portray! I just hope that he wasn't too much out of character. T^T

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, I do own Gora turtle card, it's so adorable!

R & R & Enjoy my sweet cupcakes!

Marik was never in good terms with his father, so when he learnt about his father was going to send him away on Cram school for a year, Marik was delighted. Anywhere away from his obnoxious, over-controlling dad was heaven. He had always dreamed about the outside world; the warm sunlight, sounds of humanity and sweet taste of refreshing breezes gently blowing against his cheeks as he run across a never ending stretch of green towards the sunset in the horizon. At night, he'll lie in the bed of dandelions and count the innumerable stars splattered across the darken sky until he drift asleep.

Marik had always longed for freedom, away from the dark tomb filled with nothing but hopelessness, and this impossible wish was about to be granted.

Waking up exceptionally early on that fateful morning, there was still a good half an hour to go before his school bus arrives to fetch him away from prison -the very place which was his home. Marik sat on top of his bulky luggage, staring at the stained ceiling and started wondering. He was finally going to have a chance to interact with people whom isn't his dad, Ishizu and Odion, but that was also when the worries floods in, what if he couldn't fit in? What if he got lost, what if he embarrass himself on the first day of school and deemed as a loser for the rest of his campus life? Tons of questions cascaded on him until Marik shook them out and told himself that everything would be alright.

Then, there was a gentle knock on the door which disrupted his day dreaming, it was probably Ishizu because she's the only one that would wake up at this god forsaken hour,

"Come in." He said.

And true enough, it was.

"Hey," She greeted, sounding a little concerned, but there was always this anxious look plastered on his sister's face when it comes to him, Ishizu was the most sceptical when their father voiced the opinion of sending Marik away, she was worrisome about Marik, because she believed that Marik was the dependant, clueless younger brother that doesn't know a single fact about this world. He was, but Marik was oblivious about that.

"You know, you don't really have to go…"

"But sister, I really want to!" Marik interrupted and was cut off with a little sigh.

Ishizu gently petted his head as if he was a little enthusiastic puppy that was introduced to the game of fetch for the first time, "Well, be careful alright?" she mumbled with a sad, subtle smile. Looking at Marik's bedside digital clock, "You better get going; the bus is going to arrive." She continued, bidding farewell to the solitary back view of his brother eagerly running up the flight of stairs.

The door which sealed the family in darkness swung open, Marik shielded his eyes from the blinding rising sun, its brilliant rays was so striking that it hurts his eyes, painting the entire sky a glorious orange and the sand reflected it's majestic beauty in a golden chromatic. The world is just so fascinating.

From the distance, Marik could faintly see the delineation of a vehicle in the swirling heat waves; the yellow had almost blended in with the ground itself if not for its bright red letters that spelled out 'school bus'. It was here, it was finally here, something so out of place in this desolated area with nothing but miles of sand and cactuses. The gigantic vehicle parked before him, with its engines growling a ferocious sneer as if saying 'come aboard and die.' Now that Marik's gotten a second look, he was rather sure that the school bus had looked quite menacing with its black windows and fading paint stained with blood like rust.

But he was too excite to pause and ponder over the lack of polish and went on board dragging his heavy baggage. The breaded driver paused to look at him, being far from friendly, "Where's your proof of enrolment?" he demanded, not hesitating to make his looming presence noticed.

Reaching in the side pocket of his bag, Marik pulled out a crumpled paper which had a huge red stamp that said, 'approved', cautiously handing it to the man with trembling hands feeling rather threatened.

With a scorn, "get in" he said, pressing a button beside the wheel that instructed the door to slam close. It was dark, they didn't use one way windows, and instead it was completely sealed with poorly done black paint. The atmosphere in here reminded him so much of home, except with hostile glares directed at him as he quietly scurried down the path of seats, not wanting to make eye contact.

What was wrong with everyone?

The stalking eyes did not detach not even when Marik sat down; it was really awkward and uncomfortable, was there something on his face? He only shrank further, hiding himself behind his oversized bag; Marik had started to feel really unwelcomed. "H..Hi?" He stammered, trying to lighten the atmosphere in a futile attempt, there wasn't a response until a cheerful chirp of a girl interrupted the long dreaded silence.

"Hi!" she replied, Marik almost jumped at how irritatingly high her tone was, staring at him single eyed from the gaps of the chairs in front, strands of ludicrous pink hair falls over her jewel black pupils, Marik couldn't tell if she was actually smiling from the lack of revealed portions on her face, her voice did suggest so, but her eyes said otherwise,

"You reek of a human! Do you know, my previous owner was a human and I've tore her apart! Her flesh was so sweet! Hey, can I eat you too?" She continued almost too optimistic and sadistic, it does sound a lot like a joke but it contains far more rancour and hints of realism, but it has to be right? Who in the right mind would eat humans?

Marik laughed nervously to patch the lack of response, he didn't know how to reply, was it normal for people to say such things? He doesn't understand. He didn't interact with others before; after all, he grew up in a tomb, incognizant because Ishizu has only told him that much.

"Are you a human?" She inquired again, this time, slowly rising from her seat, kneeling on it as she stared at him with cold, passionless eyes. Something that resembled a snake's tongue flickered out of her mouth, baring her carnies at the frightened, confused boy.

"You areeeeee… Aren't you?" Her voice trailed on with a hiss.

Marik couldn't apprehend her because she was speaking as if she was not human. Yet, there were many clues to indicate that she wasn't, apart from her anthropoid features, her behaviour was bizarre and snake-like, but Marik hadn't known better, he had never seen other humans besides his family. The first thought that came into his mind was, it's natural, because his dad may or may not be the reincarnation of Satan himself.

Without warning, she pounced on Marik, her stomach lying flat against the back supporter of the chair which held her weight, fastening her fingers on Marik's neck, "It's so rare to see a human…" She coos through half lidded eyes, tightening the grip as the seconds tick by.

"Help… me…" Marik managed to stammer, his hands seizing her wrist trying to remove her demonical hold. But all the other students did was watch, silent and indifferent in their respective seats. Marik was clueless as to why she was trying to kill him, he was sure he didn't say anything offensive as he barely made any comments. When Marik was painfully chocking on the ridiculous amount of effort needed to breath, her eyes widen and dilute with insanity,

"Human…"She repeated.

Was he really going to die there? The first time when he had ever left home, perhaps Ishizu was right, the world was dangerous and that he should really remain indoors, but it was too late to regret his decision as everything turned hazy with a swirl of blur. And almost delusional, he heard another voice, deeper and husky with hints of being annoyed, it sounded akin to a drunken man being rudely awaken with a slap across the face.

"Too noisy." he had said.

And just seconds later, he felt the grip relinquished, air flooding in his lungs and returning his consciousness when his vision slowly restored, but what he saw was an atrocious sight. Beside him was a teenager which Marik never noticed when he came aboard.

With a hand massaging the temple of his head and another entangled in the girl's pink hair, he lifted her up, effortlessly tossing her limp body across the walkway which came to a violent stop when she hit against the rear view window. Like before, no one went to help, no one had any intentions of helping, and just the default reaction of apathetic creatures was shown, uninterested.

Her skinny frame spread out lifelessly on the floor, bolding blocking the walk way. Someone whom was sitting nearby gave her corpse a forceful kick, it tumbled insentiently, and there wasn't any form of life remaining.

"She's dead." The boy announced.

Her killer merely scowled as he settled down on cushioned chair beside the appalled Marik, sluggishly placing his elbow on the window sill, completely negligence of the fact that he had just murdered someone. In fact, none of them reacted, not even the bus driver himself.

Marik didn't dared to question, didn't even dared to fidget, he was so grateful at the fact that the one lying dead and ignored right now wasn't him, but he had being absolutely traumatized, yes, sister had being right, the world is a very terrifying place. They even made his dad seemed subtle. Yet he was relieved that the hostile glares had stopped, since the others might be too, threatened by the stranger's presence.

The bus ride had seemingly took an eternity, no one spoke much along the trip, it wasn't exactly what Marik had expected, there wasn't excited chatters among his potential classmates, wasn't cordial communications and small talks to know each other better, and he certainly didn't expect that someone would be killed along the way.

Then, the bus halted abruptly, the front door swung opened with a loud creak, the sound of the exhaust pipe reverberated through the stillness, followed by the heavy footsteps, and a shadowy figure came aboard. Everything about him was too cliché, black ankle length trench coat, messy untrimmed white hair and a gold ornament hung from his neck looking comfortably out of place, the typical look of a school delinquent, or so by what Ishizu had described.

But what surprised Marik more was the dramatic difference in the driver's voice, "Bakura! Good to see you again!" He greeted, almost too pleasantly that it gave Marik Goosebumps. The person who was supposedly named Bakura simply smirked; there was this vibe about him that gives off a frost-biting chill of malignity. Yet, that feeling had being creepily familiar, yes it reminded Marik of someone, someone awfully close.

Carelessly stepping on the carcass of the dead girl as if it was floor rug, Bakura travelled down the pavement, lazily dragging his legs along, yawning as he picked an empty seat. But unlike Marik who has gotten bellicose stares, what Bakura received was a breakthrough of whispers and admirations, and Marik couldn't help but to overhear one of their conversations.

"Heeh, so he's rumored Bakura, the one that have won four battle royals in a roll."

"He doesn't look all the impressive to me…pretty scrawny too…"

"Who knows, hidden talent maybe?"

"Well, this year I'm going to take the reputation as 'The one that has defeated Bakura' how does that sound? A pretty enchanting sentence huh?"

The voices died off with a weak chuckle, but Marik was still pondering over their exchange as he was pretty sure Battle royal was that Japanese movie which forced a bunch of students on an island and made them kill each other. He remembered as it was one of the very few movies which he had ever watched, or rather, one of the very few blu-rays which his sister brought home. He wanted to ask about it, but he thought it was best that if he kept his doubts to himself, everyone doesn't seem to like him very much after all, and the fact that the person whom sat beside him was an unfeeling killer didn't help.

The endless bus journey finally reached its final suffocating minutes; apparently, picking Bakura up was its last stop. The loud, unstable engines pulled over just in time before Marik started getting motion sickness. The driver inimically chased his load off and drove into the oblivion, but what roots before him was something far more intimidating - the campus itself.

The inexpertly constructed building looked like an ancient medieval castle on verge of collapse, looming black thunder clouds hung atop of the ominous structure as breezes of arctic wind howled across the barren surrounding fields. Compared to that, home seemed so much more cheerful.

And Marik was already regretting his decision; maybe it was a bad idea after all.

The lot of them stood soundlessly outside the rusted old gates which slowly opened with a screech, no one else seemed to be disturbed by the idea, but Marik was certain that it differed a lot from the brochure, no in fact; it was two entirely different places.

Such rip-offs, then once again, he wasn't the one paying the school fees.

Upon entering the building, the first scent that greets him wasn't a pleasant one – decaying wood. The hall was dimly lit by antiquated chandeliers dangling from the high ceilings, its weak yellow flame could barely illuminate the spacious yet vacant hall way. But Marik was already used to the dark; it had seemed rather accommodating in fact as it reminded him of home, except classier and less Egypt.

A slim, black silhouette travelled down the spiral staircase, her heels made a short, momentary knock against the stained marble floor with each step she took. "Greetings, my students." She spoke in a voice noble and dignified, "I am your principal, briefings will not be required neither is your safety guaranteed in this school, try not to die, my darlings." She announced with a thin smile formed behind the magenta laced fan she held to obscure the lower portions of her face.

"The lesson schedules are stuck behind the card keys of your dormitory. Classes would not start until midnight, please enjoy your afternoon, and feel free to explore."

With her message passed, the middle aged woman turned and disappeared into the darkness of an emptied hallway. The place would seem relatively eerie if Marik hadn't grown up in a tomb, but the fact that lessons would be conducted at midnight did not make sense, not that he could actually differentiate between day and night now since it's forever dark and dreary in here. Even away from home, the atmosphere was so similar – distressing.

But what he doesn't know was that he was no longer on earth, no longer on a place of familiarity. Welcome to demon school, Marik… and what possible dangers lies ahead?

Next chapter: Demon God Bakura.

(Reviews will be loved.)