AN: A gift for one of my friends who asked for it. I hope you like it~

The Mockingbird's Illusion

Padded walls did nothing. Straightjackets did nothing. Being quarantined meant nothing. Sure it was a precaution to prevent the "patient" from hurting himself and others…but it was also a sign that the medical staff had given up and merely tossed the patient's file into the outbox, stamped Failure upon it and then went on living as if the patient never existed outside of the hospital.

Marik often wondered in his free time (for he had plenty of it) why didn't they just exterminate him. Obviously, they felt that he would never be able to function properly in this society . A day and age where most people frowned upon someone being in an alleyway, dark shadows under their eyes, muttering things to people unseen while trying hard to get a fire going under a spoon filled with drugs.

There was nothing wrong with being against that, but Marik found it oddly hypocritical for them to think he could act like a regular human being when they took away his drugs and put him in a ring of people to talk about their "problems." Off course ever since he got enraged and flung a chair at the counselor everything changed.

No one even tried to be nice to him anymore. Not that he would have been nice back, but still, it stung. Every day after that he would be strapped to a wheelchair, hand fed medication and wheeled over to the Chronic side with the drooling idiots so he could "learn from his mistakes. Finally sick and tired of his boredom he, - persuaded by the little boy that always talked to him- had an outright temper tantrum. He screamed and cursed out everyone in sight and broke from his restraints running over to the side of Acutes and hitting any of them he could get his hands on.

It was then that he was labeled as "unmanageable ". He was a "danger to himself and others" and was thrown into the horrible padded room to be alone for the rest of his life, kept alive through injections twice a day. Just being killed slowly in this hell. Alone with the little boy, always whining, always talking and never satisfied.

The boy was always there when Marik was awake. He was a nagging bitch and Marik thought the boy took pleasure in making him seethe and roll about in anger, wishing so deeply that the little boy was solid so that he could throttle him by that cursed vocal box of his. That cruel laughter that rang in his head when Marik started having a fit made him want to chew through the walls and stuff them in his ears. But even when Marik tried to cover his ears by shrugging his shoulders up the voice still spoke. He could only escape when he slept, and Marik was an insomniac, thereby leaving him to grind in pain in his rage..

The little boy in question almost seemed to be a spitting image of Marik, if not a little smaller and looking a little meeker. He had the same skin, same eyes, same nose but his hair was tame and kept in neat shoulder length combed locks in contrast to Marik's wild rat's nest of a scalp. The little boy wore a violet shirt and always wore low fitting jeans that rested on his hips. Not to mention the boy bitched about everything. Why Marik was a loser. Why Marik was in the room. Where was his ice cream? Did Marik like penguins? NAG NAG NAG NAG he could go on until hell froze over.

Oddly enough, even though Marik hated the boy when he said jump Marik wouldn't even ask "How high?" In that they shared some sort of odd connection, slave and master wasn't quite the right word for it, but guidance counselor would be a better way of putting it. Such irony.

"Giving up again are you?" whispered the malevolent little boy as he pulled a cigarette from his pants pocket.

Marik opened his eyes and gritted his teeth. "I'm don't want your bullshit today…" he said with a growl jealously staring at the cigarette he couldn't have for himself. Marik licked his lips then and glowered when the boy laughed haughtily.

"But you take it everyday…What makes this different…" he said lighting it up and taking a quick drag.

Marik stood quiet and fell over rolling around on the floor humming a tune to try to drown out the other.

"Pathetic…."

Marik would show him who the pathetic one was. Oh woe on the next person he saw for they would take the pent up wrath Marik had for the boy that wouldn't stop talking. He would gouge their eyes out and then eat them! YES! He would lovingly lick at the jelly within them and then tear open their eye sockets slowly ripping them apart before he reached a hand in and rearranged their internal organs.

Then…Marik began to feel calm and at ease. He was unable to explain why, but he felt more collected. He took a deep breath and let out a happy sigh. Everything was going to be okay…Everything was just going to be peachy…

The boy scoffed. "It's the gas again you twit…Must be dinner time." He said taking another drag.

Since Marik /was/ marked as "unstable" he had to be deeply sedated to an almost comatose state whenever he had to be fed with the needle. Like he remembered earlier, he was just being kept alive for the sake of medical science and their cruel experimentation. He still wondered to this day exactly when their budget would run out, forcing them to have him "put down."

Marik sighed deeply and rolled over lazily, lying there without a care in the world but still aware of his senses. The boy looked up with an intrigued look of curiosity on his face. "That's odd...Usually they drug you until you're about as agile as a sloth, maybe they've finally realized you aren't worth all of that waste of gas."

Marik was too at peace to even growl at the boy as he cackled, but he did manage a otherworldly hiss when the light entered the room. It was as if it made his skin writhe with disgust. Marik wasn't a vampire of course, but the only light he actually saw was the dim glow of the annoying boy that gave Marik massive migraines.

Marik heard the boy gave a smooth impressed whistle. "Seems like an important guy… A doctor this time. Not just that namby phamby nurse that trembles at the sight of you."

"Quiet, ugly." Responded Marik softly as he curled up on the floor, his eyes looking up as his body twitched at random intervals.

There was a familiar sound of pencil on paper and Marik felt anger rear it's hideous head within him. People all around him were judging him he bet. Looking at what he had become. The scientists in those fancy coats were documenting his "progress" or "degress" onto little clipboards with degrading pens on balled chains that always felt like they were out of ink. He opened his mouth with a roar of protest and he flailed up to sink his teeth into whatever was closest to him.

He was held back by a single hand to the forehead. He closed his eyes and shrieked like an enraged bat trying to avoid the light that burned at his eyes. He gnashed his teeth and hissed his whole body jolting in his tantrum. The boy laughed, egging him on. "You weak pussy. You're gonna get put down. Right in the middle of the forehead. Oh looky here, look at that rifle. Yup look like he's coooocking that rifleeee. "

"I'll see you in HEEEELL then!" raged Marik believing the boy's lies and he moved his body and arm more violently now the novelty of the gas wearing off.

"Hallucinations…Schizophrenia is the definite cause…" said a smooth voice. "Get me 50 mgs of Thiothixene and 50 of Libidine "

There was a pause. "Yes I know it's still in the experimental stage. That's why I'm asking for it, for an experiment. Now stop asking questions and get me what I fucking asked for. " He said coldly.

Marik stopped flailing then and he hummed an unorthodox tune to drown out more of the boy's laughter. He rocked from side to side like a child, calm for the time being.

"Alright…Open your eyes if you can hear me." Said the smooth voice.

"No."

Marik turned his head away from the light and there was a soft chuckle from the smooth voice. "Interesting…Still retains general comprehension of human language and shows a distasteful reaction to light. Of course the latter is to be expected…" he said with another chuckle in amusement.

The light became brighter and burned at Marik's eyelids. He screamed in pain and fell back flailing like a fish out of water. Trying to get the pain away. The only way was to open his eyes slowly. He took in the general whiteness of the room. So bland. So boring. He turned over with a grunt and opened his eyes some more. As he focused, he could see the fabric of the pads and before he knew it his eyes were fully open and he was examining his near environment.

The boy snickered. "Opened your eyes huh? See where you are. See what a loser you are. You're such a moron." He said.

Marik bit down into floor and uprooted a piece of fabric in his teeth. Cotton spilled out from the hole as rubbed his face against it in manic anxiety.

The smooth voice chuckled. "You couldn't have gotten it sooner…" he said. Marik felt the vibrations on the floor as the man stepped deeper into the room. He looked up then, his eyes wide and dilated, the piece of fabric still in his teeth, nostrils flaring as he examined the labbie.

He was taller than him, with long legs that were in dark blue pants. His lab coat was long and flowing stopping at his knees. A watch that looked very expensive hung from his wrist, it's golden band shining in the light. He fiddled with it with gloved hands pulling it up and further up his arms, probably so it wouldn't get in the way of his work. The annoying clipboard with those annoying attached pens was tucked underneath his arm. A perfectly crisp red tie hung from his neck, right next to the pristine name tag that read, . Looking further up, he saw that the Doctor had long white wild and untamed hair past his shoulders. The shadows from his bands covered his eyes and made him seem menacing, since you couldn't quite see or predict what he was thinking.

Bakura had a smirk upon his face as he took one pill from a tray. He leaned down and let the gloved hand clasp it between thumb and forefinger, offering it to the psychotic on the floor who recoiled with wide eyes. Bakura smiled then and narrowed his eyes in more amusement.

Marik moved then and knelled in front of Bakura. It was unknown if it was by reflex, instinct or some kind of black magic but Marik was there, submissive his eyes rolled back, looking up. His toungue extended and waiting for the pill to be placed in.

"That's a good boy…" purred Bakura, pleased by the fact that Marik was so willing and obedient. He held Marik by the chin with a gloved hand and lifted it up for him to look up. He dropped the first pill into Marik's mouth. "You know what to do right?" he said now massaging his fingers in a circular motion on the sides of Marik's neck. Marik closed his eyes and swallowed hard as if he forgot how to for a moment.

He gasped when the pill went down. The annoying boy made his presence known. "You are such a baby. Look at you having to be fed a pill like some retard. You…"

The boy's voice began to fade away and Marik sighed softly as he hummed a little more to drown him out. Bakura smiled and petted Marik's head as though he was a sick kitten. "There we go...Open your mouth for the next one." He said picking up the second pill.

Marik opened his mouth again and Bakura repeated the procedure he had gone though with the first one. Tilt, Drop, Massage, Swallow. Marik gave another sigh as Bakura let go of him and he sank slowly to the padded floor. Bakura checked his watch. "I'm going out for lunch." He said. "Leave the lights on and page me when he starts to exhibit any behavior that deviates from his norm."

Marik felt the vibrations as Bakura left and a small whimper escaped him. He didn't want to be lonely again. Even though the company of the Doctor wasn't exactly the best it was better than the annoying boy who began ranting on in his head as he curled into the fetal position whimpering some more. All he heard as he slipped away was the the dim and steady thud as Bakura left, leaving him with the annoying boy crying in loneliness. Even that faded away eventually, leaving Marik exhausted. He sank into the soft cushiness of the floor, settling into a light sleep.