For Compy's challenge again. I had the hardest tie coming up with an idea for this, mainly because I really dislike Anzu. But I think I made it work.
So this is Manipulashipping (Anzu x Malik)
Enjoy!
(XP I wrote this in such a rush the first time. The errors have been corrected now. Thanks to the reviewers that pointed them out.)
His Only Visitor
Everyone else had abandoned him, the poor soul. Even his sister and brother didn't visit him in the asylum which he had been imprisoned in. But she refused to. Her kind heart refused to let such a sweet and troubled boy be consumed by the darkness.
So she dutifully visited him everyday at six o'clock for exactly half an hour. She'd often bring gifts for him; freshly made cookies, a plush toy for him to cling to at night, anything to make him feel like he was wanted.
Often he'd ask about her friends, whom he thought of as his friends too. He'd ask if Jounouchi kept up with his studies, if Ryou was a writer yet, if Yugi still dueled, if Isis missed him. She smiled and said yes, Jounouchi kept up with his studies; no, Ryou wasn't a writer yet but he was trying; yes, Yugi still dueled but focused more on getting into college; yes, Isis missed him, but she was in Egypt and couldn't visit.
She never had the heart to tell him the truth. Jounouchi dropped out of school pretty soon after the Ceremonial Duel to get a job and support his father, Ryou had given up on writing long ago because he felt he wasn't good enough, Yugi refused to duel ever again because he couldn't do it without thinking of the Pharaoh, and Isis never even asked about him when she came over to see them.
Sometimes, she'd visit him on a bad day. It was on those days she could only watch from a window as he thrashed around the bed he was strapped to, yelling and screaming and often talking in a tongue she couldn't understand. She had her suspicions that those days were days when his dark side wanted to come out and 'play'.
It was a while ago now, but once she had visited and hadn't been allowed to even see him. She had been told he had bitten his own arm and had written on the walls of his room in blood. She had been allowed to see his room after some persuasion, but had run away crying when she read what she could understand. 'I will be free', 'I am ALWAYS with you, Malik', 'You'll NEVER be rid of me', 'I'll destroy EVERYTHING'.
It was one of his bad days when Anzu was asked to wait a while before she was allowed to look in on him, and she was sat patiently in the waiting room when a lovely young nurse came up to her and gave her some tea. When she thanked her, the nurse sat down next to her and asked her a question. "Mazaki-san, why do you keep coming to see that boy?"
She replied straight away. "Because I love him."
R+R and get brownies
