Not a single ounce of company but the groans of tormented souls in the distance for him to witness. Each of the dead spirits once held a great dread of the blonde who sat clutching his stomach from the pains of hunger, of revenge, and pure hatred. But they knew that this evil man's time left for living was withering away like a burning candle's flame. There would only be a few more moments left in this dark man's soul before they could partake in devouring him.
This tan Egyptian, Marik, was and had been deprived of food for some time leaving his body to start desecrating; his muscular body a fading glimpse of the glory it once upheld. Exercising wouldn't keep it there for long without food and unfortunately… The realm of shadows offered him none.
But none of this mattered to him, Marik had a one tracked mindset ever since he was banished to this nightmarish prison. His heart was bent of revenge. A revenge so wondrous that he'd do whatever it took to get it. Swim the longest ocean, climb every steep mountainside, run on hot coals or even all three.
Whatever it took he would get what he wanted. It was on this that he swore to uphold his vow. Perhaps he should have thought things through a little more before making this deadly promise… For his offer was soon to be taken up by a person he thought he had long done away with…
"What's this? A lonely piece of filth cluttering up my sanctuary of shows?" Who else could claim such a evil place as there home other then the owner of this low voice, none other then the once great thief, Bakura. His form just clear enough for the other to make out until he drew nearer. Both stared at the other with their eyes locked.
Marik curled back his lips, his perfect teeth exposed as he growled from deep within his chest. This robber hadn't been on his to kill list since he had already thought he had disposed of him. To be honest, he knew that the pale man should be dead by now. He wasn't nearly as strong as Marik himself.
"You should be dead already, why are you still here?" the tan lad snarled. His stomach tightening with rage while his pain of hunger was eased off to let more hate take it's place. "The ghouls should had devoured your soul by now!"
"I told you that'd I'd be back," Bakura hissed crossly. His arms now folded across his chest as Marik glared up at the pale yami. It was true, the snow haired man did make his own promise to return back from the shadows but yet he was here. His dark mud brown eyes noted that the other was about to speak. "Let me finish," he demanded with one hand raised.
Deep in the tan Egyptian's heart, what little he had been given from his pathetic other self, he did not want to listen to what this dark spirit had come to say to him. "Why are you here?" He wondered out loud.
The violet set of eyes checked this unwanted guest out and came to realize that he appeared to be clean. No more wounds or cut and his clothes appeared to be unsoiled as well. That was impossible, in this better version of hell, there was nothing but torment and loneliness with the assurance of death to come by the creatures that awaited to consume their victims.
The haunting sound of painful crying screeched through the darkness around the two cold hearted murders. A smirk rolled onto Bakura's face as the shrill cry faded back into still silence. Had that been a hint of fear he spotted in those cruel amethyst orbs?
"You're running out of strength to carry on Marik and though revenge is a potent fuel that you seem to strive on… It will not be enough to keep these goblins from closing in on you," as if to prove his point, he gestured out into the faintly increasing light to where something whisked past before fading into the shadows.
"I don't need you to point out the obvious for me!" That little bout of anger from the blonde was encouraging to the pale yami. 'So Marik has accepted that his doom was nearing. Good. This will allow me to get exactly what I want out of him.' Bakura chuckled as the thought ran through his mind. The laughter caused the golden haired other to curl his hands into tight fists.
Again the old tomb robber chuckled under his breath before answering to Marik's anger. "I did not come back here only to mock you or point out your current situation," he started off. His voice sounding casual like this was an everyday event to him. "Oh no. I'm here to accept your offer."
Bakura awaited for the other to ask what he was talking about but frowned as he heard nothing apart from the monstrosities lurking around, groan out in hunger. He decided to wait a little longer until his nose twitched in sequence with his right eye.
"Well? Aren't you going to say anything?" He hissed down upon the sitting lad. Marik had opened his mouth to talk but the silver haired thief didn't notice. "Are you that stubborn as to just sit there and act like you're a statue?" he spat.
Malik's darker self shook his head softly with his eyes closed. Then they opened he merely peered up with a blank expression. "My offer to you was to destroy you quickly and send you to your death. I see I only accomplished half of that…"
Sighing with great frustration, Ryou's yami was tempted to just leave the idiot here to die but his plans were already set and leaving him here would be admitting defeat. "Listen to me you incompetent fool. I chose to accept your plea."
There he went again. Was Marik spacing out or did the shadows eat his brain and were just playing around with the empty shell? "My plea?" The blonde asked. Those two words come out soft spoken with a ghost of a smile to their master's face. The misplace look sent a tendril of uneasiness down Kura's spine.
"Yes. The one where you promised to do anything to get revenge on the ones who had took part in casting you here," the white skinned lad answered back. Where had all his calm collectiveness gone off to? It was like it were creeping away a little more with every new word that the tan madman had to say.
"Very well. So, Bakura, how do you think you can possibly help me complete this vow of mine in order to get what it is that you desire?" Somewhere as he spoken, the Egyptian's voice had lowered into a more sultry tone without even realizing just what he had done.
With a brief swallow, Bakura worked down his nerves and put up a small frown. "I know how to get you out of here and that is the first step to getting the bloodshed that you seek." A spark ignited behind the creature of pure hate's eyes to the mention of this news. "Ah, I see you're finally interested," he mused.
The blonde nodded his head in agreement. "Yes but I know there's a catch to it. What is it that you want in return?" He was no complete moron. Marik knew that a good thief would always take what they wanted with a little extra bonus if they were giving the opportunity.
"That doesn't matter really now does it? You're the one who said that they would do ANYTHING to get the revenge they wanted," Kura pointed out with a toothy grin of his own. "Do you want out of here or not? I suggest that you make the right decision and soon."
Just then a white transparent apparition passed between the two males before Yami Ryou could finish the last word to his sentence. This was to close, the phantoms and damned beast of the Shadow Realm shouldn't be this close to them!
They both knew what was going on, Marik's time was coming up shorter then expected, though he had some fighting spirit left inside of him, that no longer would keep the monsters at bay from their palate for human flesh.
"Your time is fading Marik. If you want your precious revenge then you will accept my help and pay me back in whatever way that I request from you!" The pale skinned man sneered in a faintly rushed voice. "Choose now!" Bakura cried out after he felt one of the dark demons rush past.
Marik's mind raced with the possible decisions he had which mercifully were few but disastrously could be his end as well. He did vow to do whatever it took and backing out would make him weaker then he truly ever could be.
A imp chortled as it with a ghost rubbed up against the tan man's pants. The ghastly little imp's claws tore through the fabric of his tan khakis as well as cut into his flesh. This would only attract more of the little parasites.
"GAH! DEAL!" He forced out between clenched teeth. Where the claws had ripped though his skin tingled with intense pain. His back arched as if the cut were full of acid, his hand reached out towards the thief from his seat.
Kura reached down in an almost mechanical action, taking a strong hold of the other's hand. With a sharp jerk, he yanked the spiked haired blonde upwards and onto his feet. With his other hand, he cupped it up against his chest just under his heart until an brilliant yellow light glowed from under his shirt.
Behind the two, the scenery began to change. The rich deep hues of purple and black melted like candle wax into that of a simple and clean room. The force of Kura's tug sent Marik stumbling forward, thus thanks to Newton's lovely law of "Everything has an equal and opposite reaction" law of physics. The force sent the poor lad running into Bakura's chest and landed on him as the thief fell backwards into the portal.
The yellow light faded away while the fabric of space filled back into a close. Sealing the Shadow Realm out, the two men were now back in the 'real' world. Only the former king of thieves noted the awkward position that they were in.
"Get off of me!" The snowy haired yami pushed against the golden haired Egyptian's broad shoulders in a futile attempt of removing him from his dominate position. "Mariku!"
At the time the lad had been looking around like a child just newly introduced to a candy shop. His eyes took in everything in joy at being back but this bliss illusion crumbled at the horrid name. "You will not address me by that title. My name is Marik," he replied lowly whilst trying to keep his voice leveled.
Each shot the other their best death glare only to find the other wasn't about to back down. This would get them no where but reluctantly the evil side of Malik backed off and arose to his feet. His new found curiosity taking control of him once more, leading him to walk around slowly with searching eyes.
The image of a curious kitten crossed Bakura's mind as he watched the tan other looking about as he rose up from the floor. Just what did he unleash into the world and how did he not suspect this to happen when he had drafted up his plans in his head.
"Perhaps the little kitten would like something to eat?" Marik turned his head and looked back. His growling stomach answered for him while his face told the story of his sudden interest for such a time consuming and trivial thing to do such as eating. "Good. While we work on that, you can tell me about these plans of yours so I can workout how much you owe me…"
(What is this? Can it be another physhoshipping story by me? It all depends really.. Did you enjoy this? Review and I'll decide if continuing is a good idea or not.)