A/N: AU in a way. I mixed the canons of the anime, dub, and manga however I saw fit~

Marik smiled as he walked beside Yugi on their way home from Domino High, the hot sun beating down on him and the rest of the gang. He had moved to Domino City some time ago to be closer to his new friends; he didn't regret it. He grinned, watching Joey play-wrestle Tristan to the ground for some joking insult. In the meantime, Yugi was laughing with Tea, both of their faces slightly red. Marik smiled wider. It was obvious they were trying to flirt with each other and were too embarrassed to realize it. They really needed to get together, and soon.

He glanced behind him and shifted his backpack to one shoulder as he caught a glimpse of Ryou, lagging several meters behind the group as usual.

"Ryou!" he called to him as friendly-sounding as possible. "Catch up, you slowpoke!"

Ryou looked up when he heard his name called. A little smile slowly spreading across his face, he jogged for a second until he was alongside Marik.

"You really need to walk faster," Marik joked as he nudged the albino's ribcage playfully. "One of these days you're going to just end up staying at the school overnight because you're too slow to get to the door before they lock it!"

"I'm sorry, Marik," Ryou said politely. "I'll try to be faster."

Always so formal, Marik observed with an inner sigh. At least he was willing to be talkative today. "Yugi!" He turned to their mutual friend and grabbed Ryou's arm. "What d'you say about a Duel Monsters tournament today in your grandpa's shop? You against me, Ryou plays winner."

"I wanna play winner!" Joey interrupted, having stopped his bickering with Tristan the moment he heard "Duel Monsters."

"You can play me after I beat them both." Marik smirked.

"Oh, please," Yugi said to him, eyes gleaming at the prospect of a game. "We all know who the Game King is around here."

"Maybe I want to dethrone you," said Marik.

"Oh, please, psycho," Joey said-everyone knew his casual insults were just in fun and didn't think too much of it- and bopped Marik on the head with a hardcover schoolbook just a tad too hard. Marik stumbled and frowned.

"You okay, Marik?" Yugi said, coming forward to catch him if he needed to.

"I didn't hit him that hard!" Joey proclaimed defensively as Marik blinked hard and started to sink to the ground, spots filling his vision. "He's just being a drama queen!"

Ryou put an arm on Marik's shoulder carefully. "Marik? Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah, I'm... fine, just got a little dizzy there," he replied with a grunt. What was happening? He put a hand to his head as his vision grew dark and blurry.

"M-" he heard a girl's voice-that would be Tea then-start to say. "Wh-c-n you-r me?"

He started to answer but his tongue felt like lead in his mouth. "C-call an a-ambulance," he forced out before grasping at someone's arms and feeling himself sink confusedly into unconsciousness.

What just happened...?

Slowly but surely, Marik started to come to. He was in the dark. Alone.

No, not alone. He could feel someone pull something around his chest. He coughed.

"Hey there," he heard a voice call into his ear softly. "You're awake again."

"Y-yeah," Marik said. "What happened? I was walking along with everyone outside and everything was fine, but out of nowhere I just... blacked out..."

The voice was quiet for a moment, pressing something soft and wet on his back. It felt like a cloth. "Marik," the voice-it was a he, and it was hauntingly familiar-said sadly. "You weren't outside..."

"...What do you mean?" He struggled to sit up. A hand pushed him down gently but firmly.

"I mean you've been down here this whole time." The voice cracked with worry. "You've never been outside, Marik..."

"What are you talking about?" Marik snapped. "Of course I have. Ever since I was ten, I've gotten in the open air as much as possible. I'm claustrophobic, for heaven's sakes."

The voice made a sympathetic noise. "You're ten right now, Marik."

Marik scowled and tried to turn around. "Are you crazy? What kind of crap are you trying to feed me? What kind of hospital is this?"

"This isn't a hospital, little one. Calm down..."

"NO! Where am I?" Marik's eyes were wide as they flicked around to every corner he could see. The light was dim but he could see the walls were made of stone. "Did you kidnap me or something? What, are you a former Rare Hunter looking for revenge on me for something? What are you doing to me?" The hands held him down but stroked his hair. Marik was panicking now. What kind of sicko had kidnapped him? Where were Yugi and his friends? "Stop touching me!"

"I can't. You'll hurt yourself."

"You're hurting me now!"'

"I'm trying to help you, little light..."

Marik felt like the wind had been knocked out of him as he suddenly placed the voice. It was his own. It was distorted almost beyond recognizability, but it was still Marik's voice. Marik's body thrashed. "How did you get here! I banished you to the shadows months ago! You're dead!"

His yami touched his forehead gently while trying to hold down his arms. "Stop it! You'll make the bleeding worse."

Marik froze with horror as the realization dawned on him. "You-you cut me!"

"No! No, no, no, no, no, dear one. I didn't!"

"Then why am I bleeding?"

"Your father-"

Marik cut him off. "My father is dead! You killed him!"

"...Oh, light." His yami sounded genuinely worried and-hurt? "I'm only here to protect you. You know that. I wouldn't even touch him if you didn't want me to."

"What kind of mind games are you playing?" Marik bolted upright and twisted to behold his yami's face. His yami was stained with blood everywhere-it covered his skin and matted his crazed hair; it was splashed on his cheeks and ran up and down his hands and arms, which were being raised to push Marik down yet again.

So.

Much.

Blood.

Marik screamed.

His yami lunged in at him with lavender irises that were nothing but pinpricks as veins started to raise all along his face. His mouth was pulled to the side grotesquely. Marik pinched his eyes shut in terror, feeling like a child as he flailed and kicked. "Let go of me, you monster!" His chest was heaving and he was getting lightheaded. Images of his yami, his dead father, the tombkeeper ceremony all flashed before his eyes. Blood, blood everywhere, he could feel it all over his own hands, everything he touched, he could smell it all over his body, all he could hear was the gut-wrenching slicing and plunging and splashing of blo-

"I said to keep still, Master Marik!" a voice boomed in his ears and suddenly Marik went still, his arms dropping to his sides and his head lolling up to stare at Odion where his yami had just been. Odion had dark circles under his eyes and was splashed with blood too, but seeing a familiar and friendly face calmed Marik enough for the moment.

"O-Odion! Oh Ra!" he cried out with tears streaming down his cheeks, reaching out to clutch his surrogate-brother's hand.

"You finally-you're here with me again..." Odion said with relief. "Don't move, Master Marik, you'll make it worse. It's already-"

"Odion?" Marik looked at his brother with wonder in his eyes. "Where are your scars?"

"My what? Master Marik... You've been dreaming."

Marik frowned. "No, I haven't! I haven't even been asleep!"

"I don't know what to call it... Dreaming when you're awake-I've never heard of it before. Your father says you're just looking for sympathy, but..."

"My father is dea-" Marik started, but he didn't want to go into it again. He would argue about it later. First he had to attend to whatever was making his brother so distraught. "What's wrong, Odion?"

"Master Marik..." Odion looked down at him with sympathy. "You are. After the ceremony, you-the bandages were soaked-your back just... can't stop bleeding... We can't understand why, but we're trying to fix it. We need you to stop moving."

"That's bullcrap. The ceremony was years ago. Why was my yami here, Odion? How did I get here? I want to go home..."

Odion swallowed hard. "Your yami-I don't know what it is, but you kept yelling about it when you were dreaming with your eyes open. The ceremony was a few days ago, Master Marik. And you've always lived here."

Marik sat up straight again. "You're lying! I'm dreaming right now, is all! Remember, Odion? I took the Millennium Rod and I went to the surface and lived there for years and tried to kill the Pharaoh but I made friends with his host and-"

"The Rod is just an heirloom..."

"And I moved to Domino City and started going to school there and I got a motorcycle and-"

"You've never been outside..."

"And Yugi forgave me and my yami was gone and I didn't even need him, and I lived happily ever after with you and Ishizu and Yugi and all our friends-"

"You were making up stories..."

Marik snapped his head up to argue but couldn't get a word out. His back had erupted in white-hot pain. He screamed again, louder than last time, a howl of agony as he suddenly felt every bit of skin that had been sliced open in the ceremony, felt it tear with every movement he made, felt it slick against the stone he was lying on-slick with blood, so much blood...

"Odion!" he forced out. "What's happening to me?"

"Master Marik! You're-" He saw Odion turn his head and call for their sister. Voices started fading in and out once more.

Marik was finding it hard to breathe at all.

When the spots before his eyes finally cleared, he saw his yami sitting in front of him again, holding him tight, although he could no longer feel the pressure of his strangely-transparent arms.

"Yami," he gasped. "Help-me-"

"I tried to protect you," his yami said sadly. "This is all I can do." His yami's expression twisted yet again-gargoyle-like, the stuff of nightmares-and as quickly as it had come, the agony of Marik's back vanished.

Marik paused in astonishment. "Y-yami?" he said carefully, hearing his voice as if he weren't the one saying it-he sounded so young... He was strangely disconnected; everything felt numb...

"Rest, Marik," the twisted, disturbing creature that so resembled him said quietly. "Go outside. You can be free. Go see the sunshine one last time."

Marik swallowed a breath, as if he were about to submerge underwater, and looked up, not knowing what he would see.

With a flash, he was on his motorcycle-the open road-sun shining in his face-friends laughing by his side-sixteen years old-leaning into the breeze-relishing his freedom-holding his family-surrounded by loved ones, friends old and new-rushing down the road on his bike, never going to stop, faster, faster, thrilled by his freedom-he would never give this up-

In Odion's arms and with Ishizu by his side, covered with blood and staring blankly up at the ceiling as he muttered to his imaginary protector, a ten-year-old Marik Ishtar died with a smile on his face.