A Golden Embrace 'n' Beyond
Prologue: The Hand of Salvation
She kept running. Ice cold rain was running down her bare arms. Thunder crashed ominously, lighting illuminated her face. She didn't want to go back there, not ever. She was exhausted; she collapsed in the alley into a puddle of cold water. She pulled her legs to her chest, buried her puffy sky blue irises into her knees, her almond brown hair encircling her.
"What are you doing out here in this weather?" A male voice spoke out of nowhere. The girl's head shot up, automatically glancing around for the source of the voice. A man taller than her with tan skin stood above her. His light purplish shirt cut off above his naval, his beige pants covered the top of his black shoes. He wore a gold Egyptian jewelry, a necklace, wrists band-like bracelets, arm bracelets, and earrings. His platinum blond locks were soaked. His lavender orbs watched her intensely.
"I should be asking you the same question." She answered. The man grinned at her.
"Who are you running from?" He kneeled in front of her.
"Someone I want to forget." She replied, brushing her hair out of her face with her hand to have her hair fall back behind her out of the way. The man reached out a hand to her.
"If you come with me you can forget everything, everything and everyone that you want to escape from." The blond stated easily. The girl looked at the hand then at the man.
"W-Who are you?" She wondered.
"Marik." The teen replied with a gentle grin. She took his hand, Marik pulled her to her feet. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Ryoko." The girl shivered from the spring rain. She encircled herself with her arms to keep warm. Marik walked to a motorcycle that Ryoko hadn't noticed before.
"Here put this on." Marik handed Ryoko a black leather jacket.
Ryoko took it and put it on, "Thank you."
"Your welcome," Marik handed her a red helmet with Spirit written on the side in lime green letters in an eerie writing style, "Here, put this on, we wouldn't want that pretty head of yours to get hurt, would we?"
Ryoko slid the helmet on over her drenched hair. Marik placed his own helmet on his head as he sat on the motorcycle. Ryoko stood still, she wasn't too fond of anything that got a person anywhere other than a car. "It's all right, there's nothing to be afraid of." Marik looked at her through the visor of his helmet.
Ryoko climbed onto the motorcycle behind Marik and slowly wrapped her arms around the man's waist. "Are you ready?" Marik looked over his shoulder at Ryoko to make sure she was ready before they took off.
"Uh-huh." Ryoko nodded. The motorcycle roared to life then began to growl like a panther, hence the name Panther written on the motorcycle in purple letters on its glossy black paint job.
"Let's go then." Marik removed his feet from the ground that kept the motorcycle steady and they were off. Ryoko watched the city lights rush past them as the raced through the streets.
"Where are we going?" Ryoko tried to make her voice loud enough so Marik could hear her.
Marik answered as he kept his eyes on the road, "Your new home."
To Be Continued…
This fanfic is for YuYuInuWolf and every other Marik Ishtar fangirl out there, including yours truly!