Request for PurpleWildcat2010!

I issued a challenge in my other fic "Come Together" and she was one of the three reviewers that correctly answered my challenge. As a result, she won this request. I sincerely apologize for the lateness, Wildcat, but my bunnies only recently decided to work on this. There is a slight reference to one of my other fics in here…look and see if you can find it :D

As a reference note, I'm working on the assumption that the Domino Museum is much like other museums, in that there are three floors, one main hall area where the gift shop and desk are and then the rest of the museum is divided up into sections comprising of several rooms, with these sections being located off of different "halls".

…Hopefully that explanation makes a tiny bit of sense.

This is set post-series and congrats to Wildcat again for winning the challenge!

He stared. "You have got to be kidding me."

Marik kicked the gate blocking the front entrance to (and his exit out of) the "Ancient Egypt" exhibit, a frustrated growl escaping his throat. He knew this would not change the fact that he was now effectively locked inside the exhibit hall, but it was the thought that counted.

"Hello!" he called, shaking the gate a little bit to generate some noise. He didn't have too high of hopes, though—he was located in the furthest room away from the security room and, consequentially, from the front entrance of the museum. Maybe one of the museum guards was passing by and would let him out; they usually did rounds to check on the exhibit halls before returning to the security room.

About ten minutes passed before Marik slumped in defeat against a nearby wall. In retrospect, maybe offering to fetch that one tablet from the exhibit case for his sister to translate was not such a hot idea, especially considering that the museum had been closing down for the night when he had arrived. But surely his sister had told the guards that Marik was in the museum. Heck, he'd even told one of the older men he was here!

…Unless the guard he'd told had been going off his shift when Marik had arrived and had forgotten to tell the incoming staff he was here.

A noise behind him made him look up hopefully. Perhaps one of them had been in the hall after all and had heard him; it did not explain why the man was traveling in the dark, but if it meant he was getting out of here he was willing to forgive the man for the lack of a flashlight.

He frowned at the silhouette that was outlined by a nearby exhibit (something about the burial jars used at death, he realized unhappily) and soon realized the other figure was not a security guard. This belief was only furthered when he caught a glimpse of silver on the other figure's head. "Bakura?"

The figure jumped in surprise but moved close enough for Marik to definitively identify the other teenager, who was wearing a pair of jeans and a collared shirt and had a messenger bag with him. "Not quite. He's been gone for some time, but…oh, wait. Marik? Is that you?" asked Ryou in surprise as he came into view.

"No, I'm Santa Claus. Ho ho ho," he retorted.

"I didn't think Santa would choose to wear that outfit," said Ryou dryly, looking pointedly at the lavender tank top and the black cargo pants the other boy was currently wearing. "What are you doing here?"

The Egyptian sighed. "I wanted to spend the night in the museum, so I hid out in the mummy casket over there and waited until it was closing time to come out. Wanted to scare the night shift and make them think that the mummy's curse had some weight behind it," he deadpanned.

"Really?"

"No. But it sounded a lot cooler than, 'I was running an errand for my sister but the security guard forgot that I was in here and closed the gate for the night.'"

Ryou snorted in laughter before his brown eyes widened comically in the dim light. "You mean we're locked in here?" he said, looking alarmed and only seeming to notice the chain-linked gate for the first time.

"Unfortunately," replied Marik dully. "And the worst part is that my phone's at home."

"Wouldn't your sister realize that you were here?" said Ryou. "I know that your brother certainly would notice you were gone."

"You'd think that, except I was supposed to come in here, take this tablet out of its case, and then go home on my motorcycle," said Marik, gesturing to the small suitcase nearby him on the floor. "Rishid and Ishizu are at home, waiting for me to come back."

At this point both of them jumped at an unfamiliar voice, which had let out a groan of dismay. Marik's eyes moved through the hall around them before locking onto another silhouette, relaxing when he recognized the outline—it was kind of difficult to mistake it, actually.

"You're in here too, then?" he asked wryly, and the third teenager moved into the light.

"Yep," said Yugi, looking exasperated. "I didn't mean to stay so late, but I was looking around all the exhibits and when I got into this part of the museum I never left. I've never gotten a chance to really look around here because…well, things kept getting in the way," he continued sheepishly, gesturing around him in a vague arc before doing a double take. "Wait. Marik?"

"You're the second one to point that out. Is it really that surprising that I'm here?" said the blond with a raised eyebrow. Noticing the abashed expression on Yugi's face, though, he continued with, "Don't worry. I didn't think I would be here either."

"I didn't mean to sound so surprised. The last time I saw you was in Egypt, so I assumed you were still there," said Yugi apologetically.

"Like I said before, no worries."

The blond glanced over at Ryou and said, "So Yugi's stuck with us because he lost track of time. What brings you here at this late hour?"

Much to Yugi's and Marik's consternation, though, the white haired teenager looked confused. "I don't know how I got to the museum, actually," he admitted, increasing the alarm running through both of them. "I was at home one minute and then the next thing I knew I was talking to Marik."

There was a stunned silence following this announcement, but then Ryou's face shifted and he began to laugh. "I'm teasing," he said, and the other two boys relaxed. "I was here because my father was supposed to come by today and I was hoping to meet him; he doesn't stop by Domino very often, but when he does it's because he's dropping something off here at the museum."

"Oh that's right," said Marik in realization. "Your dad's a curator here, isn't he? I saw his name on one of the office doors when I was here with Ishizu a while ago. I wondered if he was related to you."

"Ishizu works here now?" asked Yugi with some surprise. Marik frowned at that (surely that had been obvious), but then he remembered their earlier reactions.

"Yeah. She's taken up a part time job, actually. Half the time we'll be here, and the other half of the year we'll be back in Luxor," he explained, watching the confusion on their faces clear up. "Think of it like we're migrating."

Yugi looked up at Ryou after a moment's pause. "Did you get to see your dad?"

Now the white-haired teen looked embarrassed. "I, uh, fell asleep on a chair in the back of the hall while I was waiting for him; I was reading a couple books," he confessed as he gestured to his bag, and Marik could see the slight pink tint to the other boy's features even in the dim light. "I must have missed him…either that or he got distracted by something and forgot to come over here. He does that on occasion."

Yugi laughed good-naturedly before his eyes went back to the gate. "Have either of you figured out how we're going to get out?" he said, putting his hands on his hips and studying the doorway.

"Does anyone know where you are?" Marik countered. "Rishid and Ishizu know I'm here, but they won't think to check on me until a couple hours pass, at best."

The short boy shook his head, causing his spiky bangs to fly back and forth. "No one knows I'm here. Grandpa's out on a dig in Greece with Professor Hawkins and Rebecca; someone's got to watch the shop, so that's why I'm still in town," he replied.

"What about your posse?"

"Jounouchi's with Shizuka and her mother for the summer, Honda's babysitting his nephew, and Anzu is helping at the fine arts center for a couple of weeks," said Yugi with a helpless shrug.

"I would have thought that you would be with Anzu rather than here," said Ryou after a slight pause, a mischievous light in his eyes.

"One of the groups is working on The Wizard of Oz to perform later this summer. I kept getting mistaken for one of the members of the Lollipop Guild," Yugi said, looking visibly annoyed.

Marik had no idea what the Lollipop Guild was, but he did figure something else out based on that look on the shorter boy's face. "I bet you would have braved that indignity if Anzu asked you to," he pointed out with a sly grin, watching in satisfaction as Yugi went red.

"She wasn't a part of the cast; we were in a different room than they were. They kept dragging me out of the room, so Anzu had to stop what she was doing to get me back. I figured I would get out of her hair," he muttered in reply, not meeting their eyes.

"One day, Yugi, you'll get that growth spurt," said Ryou kindly. "Do you have your phone by any chance?"

"At home. It's been acting up lately, so I figured I'd leave it instead."

"And mine's out of battery," announced Ryou with a sigh, holding up his cell phone. "Maybe there's another way out of the exhibit hall that we haven't thought of yet."

Marik rose to his feet and gripped the handle of the briefcase beside him. "Well, if there is one I really want to find it," he announced. "I don't want to have to explain to Ishizu that I'm locked in. She's already annoyed about the Optimus Prime crack."

"The what?" inquired two voices simultaneously.

"I'll explain it while we're walking," he replied with a grin.

Yugi slumped against the wall dejectedly. "So much for there being another exit," he sighed, looking at his taller companions.

They had now been wandering through the entire hall for about twenty minutes, looking for a way out of their current predicament. Thus far, they had seen nothing but the exhibits around them; it did not help matters that there seemed to be no cameras in the part of the museum they were locked in.

Ryou frowned as well. "I could have sworn there was another way out of here."

"Technically, if you went through that one doorway there was. It has a couple of windows that at least Yugi could get through. But that door leads to some rooms where the more fragile and valuable artifacts are, and it's crawling with alarms; opening the door alone sets off five of them," responded Marik unhappily.

"Have you done that before, too?" asked Yugi. "I did once on a class trip. It scared everyone in the museum, especially the teacher—"

Ryou looked torn between amusement and horror. "You mean you were the one who did that? I thought it was Jounouchi."

"No," admitted the shorter boy, rubbing a hand on the back of his head in embarrassment. "I thought it was a part of the exhibit and I pushed on the door. Jounouchi was looking at the jewelry exhibit across from me. I explained what happened after we left," he added defensively.

Marik had to laugh. "I did something similar when I first got here, except I blamed it on my sister's boss for not telling me that door was wired," he said unashamedly. "He's a jerk to her half the time, so if he gets the blame for something then I'm all for it."

Ryou chuckled as he looked around him, but then a frown marred his features. "Do you guys know where we are?" he asked, peering in the dark room uncertainly. "I think we're by the clothes, because I can see a couple mannequins over there..."

"Of course I do," announced the Egyptian brightly. "We are in the furthest room from the exit—I think," he added, an identical frown marring his features. "Come to think of it, I don't know."

"Marik, your sister works here," said Yugi, disbelief and exasperation in his voice. "How can you not know where you are?"

"In my defense, most of the rooms look the same," retorted the teen with a scowl. "The stuff in said rooms is also really similar."

An abruptly loud clunk behind them caused all three boys to jump and look around the badly lit room they were in. Noticing the sarcophagus in the left hand corner of the room, they exchanged nervous glances with each other.

"You can't be serious…I was just kidding about the whole 'curse of the mummy' thing," said Marik defensively, not for the first time wishing that their prison was better lit.

"I've fought a mummy before," Yugi stated, looking unhappily at the sarcophagus. "I don't want to do that again."

Marik and Ryou both stared at the shorter teenager disbelievingly.

"…And here I thought I was the only weirdo you attracted," said the blond at last, momentarily forgetting about the sarcophagus. "You're a magnet for these guys, aren't you?"

"Don't forget that you're looping yourself in that statement, as well as me," said Ryou wryly.

Yugi laughed, sudden realization dawning on his face. "You know, I think I just found a new scenario for your Monster World game, Ryou."

"Monster World?" repeated Marik when Ryou's eyes lit up. "What's that?"

"A game I think you'd find most entertaining," replied the other boy cheerfully. "The closest thing I can associate with it is Dungeons and Dragons."

Marik's confusion deepened at that, but he didn't get the chance to ask more about it. There was another sound from somewhere behind them and all three looked around them uneasily, forcibly reminding them that they were not alone at the moment. "Do you think it's a security guard?" asked the white-haired boy quietly, brown eyes searching through the darkness.

"But if that was the case, where are their flashlights? Those guys always turn their lights on when they're on patrol," replied Marik with a frown.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

Yugi sighed. "Well, I've been up against tougher things," he said in resignation before moving across the room to the doorway.

"What are you—?"

"I'm small enough to look around the doorway without being spotted. One good thing my height's for," he replied in a whisper, peering around the doorframe.

Ryou and Marik glanced at each other before tip-toeing behind Yugi. "See anything?" asked the white-haired boy softly after five minutes had passed.

The boy's violet eyes squinted in the darkness. "There's definitely someone there, but they're in the other room. I haven't seen them yet," he said quietly.

There was another long stretch of silence, during which the footsteps came closer to them. "How would we know we're dealing with a thief or not?"

"I dunno."

"Haven't you broken into a museum at some point, Marik?"

"I did, Ryou, but I basically walked inside. I didn't have to maneuver around alarms."

"Not to be rude, guys, but I'm having enough trouble seeing him. I can't hear him if you're…oh no."

"Yugi?"

"I lost him."

Ryou's eyes widened again. "What do you mean?"

"He was there one minute, but now I don't know what happened to him."

Marik's grip on the small suitcase tightened. "That can't be good," he muttered, glancing around him uneasily. "Do any of you know karate, at least?"

"I would hope you wouldn't try to use any such knowledge on me," commented a deep voice from behind them in exasperated amusement.

All three boys yelped and whirled around to find the newcomer; Ryou inadvertently tripped over Yugi's foot and the both of them ended up toppling into Marik, sending them all to the floor. The lights clicked on at that moment and when they opened their eyes they were blinded by it, forcing them to squint.

"Did you find them?" asked an unfamiliar person from somewhere behind them.

Marik shaded his eyes to look over by the door, noticing a young man dressed in the uniform of a night watchman standing by the light switch. His gaze traveled to the man standing over them and a relieved grin lit his features.

"Hey Rishid," he said, holding up the small suitcase. "I got that tablet Ishizu was asking for."

The older Ishtar studied the trio on the floor with his golden eyes before reaching down to help Yugi up. "I found him—and it seems he has friends with him as well," he said over his shoulder, directing the comment at the security guard.

The other young man looked unhappy. "I'm really sorry this all happened," he said while Rishid pulled Ryou to his feet. "I'm new here, so I assumed that you were getting what you needed from your sister's office. I didn't mean to lock you folks in."

"It's all right," Yugi reassured the man. "I lost track of time and didn't figure it out until the lights dimmed; I was so focused on one of the artifacts in here that I didn't hear the closing time announcement."

"And I was asleep in the back," added Ryou when the guard continued to look guilty.

"I'll see them out," stated Rishid kindly. "Do not trouble yourself further in the matter. This was an honest mistake that anyone could make. Simply be more aware in the future so that this type of incident does not happen again."

Somehow, Marik got the distinct impression that his brother was addressing more than one person with that sentence.

"Are you sure that you want us to go back with you?" asked Yugi, who was currently sitting in the passenger seat of Rishid's car. "I don't want you to go to any extra trouble taking us to our houses, but still…"

"Marik insisted on it," replied the older man as he turned onto another road; Marik had to drive his motorcycle, which was why he was not in the car. "Once he found out that you were by yourselves for the evening he likely did not favor the idea that you both would be alone at home."

"I think it also has to largely do with what I mentioned about Monster World—and the fact he heard that you went up against a mummy, Yugi," Ryou pointed out.

Rishid blinked in surprise, looking down at the teenager with a startled expression; Yugi, meanwhile, sank into the seat. "That certainly sounds like my brother," said the Egyptian with a small chuckle. "When he gets curious about something he tends to examine whatever it is that caught his attention to begin with thoroughly. Don't be surprised if he bombards you with questions when we arrive at our home."

"I wondered about that," grumbled Yugi, though it was in good nature. He did not mind spending the evening at the Ishtars; a quiet night alone at home had not entirely appealed to him. Judging by the expression on Ryou's face he could tell the other teen was having similar thoughts.

Rough beginning notwithstanding, this was turning out to be a good evening—and it only improved when, upon arriving at the Ishtars, it was discovered that Ryou was carrying a portable version of Monster World with him in his bag.

Final note: I'm under the impression that Bakura's rough personality would have rubbed off on Ryou a bit, which explains his sometimes sarcastic behavior in this fic :)

KoK out.