BRANDED - CHAPTER 1

Another pawn had been placed into his plan - a man who, at this point, was now a mere senseless husk that awaited its next orders. Marik sat alone in the room he had temporarily rented with the use of the incognizant but conveniently casually clothed hunter, deep in thought, though his thoughts were, by no means, idle. Earlier, he had met with and formed a pact with the suspicious figure who had so confidently proposed that they cooperate for the sake of their own interests. He did not trust this man named Bakura, of course, but had known that rejecting such an offer would only be foolish. He had learned some useful information, after all; there were indeed more Millenium items than he had anticipated within the city.

Now, if only Ishizu had not continued to insist on interfering with his plans.. Could she not see that his eventual success could also be hers to share? That his goal was for the sake of their family?

Perhaps she would eventually understand, once the plan had run its course. He did not want to hurt his sister unnecessarily, but the concept of family had grown foreign over the course of the last few years. The family's status as 'Tombkeepers', however, remained as vivid as ever and his hatred gained renewed vigor with each reminder of the pharaoh's existence. His father had made life hard for him. But he did not deserve to die.

Marik's gaze shifted to the Millenium Rod in his grip as he pondered over his new alliance. Yes, hopefully the fool would not be too much trouble once he fulfilled his end of the bargain and defeated the pharaoh. Then, the Ring would be his, and directing his Rare Hunters to the location of the other Millenium items would be an even easier task. He lightly smirked, wondering whether his soon-to-be foe planned the same for him.

He glanced at the door when he heard two quiet knocks.

"Odion. What have you found?"

Upon Odion's entry into the room, Marik couldn't help but notice that he felt relieved that he had never had to resort to the mind control tactic that dominated the behavior of his other servants with Odion. Unlike Ishizu, Odion recognized the importance of redeeming the family name. At least, he seemed to, by obeying his orders; Marik couldn't help but feel an occasional tinge of annoyance at his servant's lack of initiative, despite his unwavering loyalty. Alas, every organization needed a leader.

"The plan is commencing as planned, master. Something useful . . The pharaoh's group is traveling with a new duelist. A girl. I've noted their habits and she's the most isolated." Odion gazed at his brother impassively as a silence permeated the room. Marik tilted his head in thought, his gaze steady and focused still on the rod. After a few moments, his eyes snapped back to those of Odion and he nodded. Wordlessly, Odion left the room in quiet understanding; they both knew that it would be easier this way. Plans had changed for the better.

It had only been a month since her arrival in Domino City, but Astrid was pleased to find that she enjoyed her new home very much. Even better, she had managed to make friends, and was delighted to discover the modesty of the reigning champion of Pegasus's tournament. In fact, his entire group of friends seemed to be very nice people and she was surprised at the amount of time she had spent with them over the last few weeks; she wasn't exactly a very extraverted person, after all.

'If only more duelists shared his attitude,' she mused to herself. Tristan and Joey were loudly remarking to one another outside of the food stand their group had stopped by, and Tea was looking at them smiling. Astrid gazed onward at lights that dotted the streaked horizon and inhaled the freshness of the evening. She heard someone approaching and saw Yugi appear to her right.

"Everything alright?"

She gave a light smile and looked back at their group; they were still busy in line.

"Yeah, just enjoying the evening. It's nice that everything's so . . . alive in the city."

She had grown particularly close to Yugi, as their interests were quite similar. Their mutual interest in Ancient Egypt spurred many interesting conversations, though hers stemmed mainly from a deep rooted fascination with its culture and mythology, and his from the intent to discover more about a few specific exhibits in the museum. Ever since she was a child, she had loved reading books about the gods that were worshipped by Ancient Egyptians and the bizarre rituals that populated their daily lives. At one point during her childhood, she had even gone as far as attempting to learn to decipher hieroglyphics. She smiled at the memory.

They both enjoyed dueling as well, and Yugi had encouraged her to enter the Battle City tournament. They had even dueled each other a few times for fun, and she received a few compliments from him about the strategies she used. He must have just been going easy on her, though, because competitive dueling was definitely not one of her top priorities and she had not invested much time in honing her skills. No, she needed a job quite badly, and her savings were running dry.

Early into their friendship, she had noticed an unusual stoicness-even wiseness-about Yugi that didn't seem typical of people who were their age. She also, of course, noticed the strange golden puzzle that was ever present around his neck. She didn't mention anything about it, but their friends eventually divulged that aside from dueling, his secondary quest was to discover the secrets they thought that it beheld. They didn't seem to speak much of it around her, at least, but she didn't mind. Astrid viewed her new life in Domino as a fresh start - a blank slate, so to speak, and her past had held a few secrets as well. She was glad they didn't ask much of it.

"Will you be going to the museum tomorrow?"

"Yeah, definitely. Maybe we could even ask one of the researchers about the slates - even though they're a little damaged, it might be useful to know where they were found."

Now Astrid saw the rest of their group heading their way, with Tea trailing behind Tristan and Joey. As they approached, she noticed Tea's gaze shifting between both of their faces and hoped that she wasn't reading too much into their friendship. She could tell from the first day that Tea was crushing badly on him, and as a result made an effort to include Tea in their activities as much as possible. It was nice to have such a closely knit group of friends to spend time with, and although they didn't actually know much about her at all, she was content with drifting alongside them through duels and other activities.

The sun had set entirely now, and a few yawns were heard throughout the group as everyone walked toward their tournament hotel rooms. Tea generously offered to share the room with Astrid for the night, and after a few attempts of declining, Astrid gave in. She vaguely heard Tristan make a remark about her sharing his room and grinned when Tea punched him lightly on the arm.

'At least this will make it a lot easier to get to the museum tomorrow with Yugi,' she thought to herself after she had changed into a borrowed pair of sweatpants. Pulling the covers up to her chin, she sighed in comfort as a wave of drowsiness washed over her. Moments later, she was asleep.

The echoes of footsteps resonated through quiet stone halls. Though they were initially barely noticeable, the steps progressively grew louder and were now accompanied with light breathing. Every few feet, torches lit the dark hallways; these halls were familiar and yet tainted. The flickering of the torches did nothing to quell the unease that pervaded this memory - she realized she was moving forward. Unwillingly. She also realized she had misinterpreted the breathing; it was now a very audible crying. She could distinguish the form of a small shadowed figure in the darkness that beheld her, and a chord of panic struck her as she recognized the unmistakable silhouette of the Millenium Rod. She knew what was going to happen next and tried to squeeze her eyes shut; it was no use. She could only watch the arm that held the rod extend upward as she prepared to witness her father's death once again. A flash emanated from the rod and, to her surprise, revealed the shape of a shadowed silhouette.

In another area of Domino City, Ishizu Ishtar awoke with a start in a sheen of cold sweat. The nightmare she had just experienced had began just like the one that recurred and plagued her sleep over the last few years, but this was the first time that it ended differently. She had woken immediately upon the appearance of the second figure and could not make much of it out, but she knew that it was definitely not her father. She could have sworn she also distinguished what resembled a crest on the top of its head.

This was not a memory.

Author's Note: Please review and give me your feedback! It will let me know whether you're enjoying the read, and will motivate me to continue the fic if you like it.