"FEDAI"
*Authors Notes and Disclaimer at the bottom
CHAPTER 1 - Deals and Devils
He had never seen such a lavish room before. The furniture all looked as if it were made from the finest gold, the walls were painted in rich, exotic colours and expensive leathers covered almost every inch of the room. In comparison to the area around him, the boy felt almost unworthy, he felt cheap.
He tried not to feel as intimidated as he should by the riches that surrounded him, it wouldn't do to fail to keep a level head - it would be best if he just pretended he was visiting an old friend, rather than the prince of his country.
The boy turned and entered the office where he would be meeting the man, trying desperately not to get the dirt that he was sure to have dragged in on the exquisite silk rugs. In the corner of the office, there was a full length mirror which he was immediately drawn to, trying to work out if what he had been told concerning his reason for being in the palace was true.
He stared into his reflection's light lavender eyes, which seemed so different from his prince's eyes to him, but apparently were almost indistinguishable from the other man's. He sighed, tucking a strand of his golden hair behind his ear and cleared some dirt from his tanned face.
"You're here." He spun around and found himself staring directly into the violet eyes of a man he hadn't seen for years. The man was quite tall – only slightly taller than the boy, he had spiked blonde hair that pointed carelessly in every direction and a grin that rivalled the Cheshire cat's. His skin was dark and his eyes held a spark of madness in them that Malik recognised from his time in school when he had seen the man last.
"Mariku." He breathed. The flaxen-haired man in question grinned, a wide and sharp toothed smile that sent chills down the younger boy's back.
"You remember me, Malik!" The man's grin widened further, if possible, and he took a jaunty step forward, encasing the other – Malik – in an almost brotherly embrace, "How have you been?" He said releasing his tight embrace and holding the boy at arm's length. Malik brushed down his faded uniform, unsure whether to look into the other man's eyes or stare respectfully at the ground as he answered.
"I've been fighting, just like everyone else. The war's just as bad as it's ever been." He eventually settled for staring directly at Mariku's chin. Mariku chuckled and lifted Malik's face until they were eye to eye.
"Now, now; there's no need to be so respectful, I know how much you hated having to bow down to others." Mariku smirked, "Now, come. I have a proposition for you."
Malik followed obediently as Mariku led him to a desk and sat across from him in a comfortable – most likely velvet covered – chair. Mariku reached into a box and pulled out two cigars,
"Take one." He said, holding his hand out in front of Malik. Malik shook his head,
"I don't smoke." Malik replied quietly, a small seed of apprehension beginning to creep into his mind as he saw how serious the ever-jovial Mariku had become.
"Pity." Mariku said, replacing one of the cigars and lighting the other, "Now, do you remember what the others at school used to say about us?" He asked as he blew out a puff of smoke. Malik did remember, but chose to shake his head to see where the other was going with his question. Mariku chuckled,
"They used to say we could be twins." He said, standing and moving round to stand behind Malik. He turned Malik's chair to face the mirror, forcing Malik to see the resemblance.
"Uncanny. Isn't it?" Mariku smiled cruelly at the discomfort that was radiating from the boy in waves from being so close to the prince. Malik stared silently at their reflection. If he just spiked his hair and narrowed his eyes slightly, then he and Mariku would be identical, except...
"You're taller." He said slowly, trying to pick apart whatever Mariku was scheming. Mariku nodded,
"Only by a few centimetres. We can fix that." He said it so calmly, so indifferently, as he tossed his cigar carelessly away, that Malik almost missed the last sentence.
"F-fix it?" He questioned, mentally kicking himself for stuttering, and desperately trying not to shudder, "Why would we fix it?" His question was answered with another question, as Mariku held up a newspaper that exclaimed 'King Visits Slums!' and asked, while pointing to a photo of the ruler of the country,
"Do you know who this is?" Malik tilted his head slightly in confusion and in annoyance at his question being ignored.
"It's King Ishtar, your father. Isn't it?" He watched in confusion as Mariku laughed heartily.
"This man isn't my father; he's a political decoy, a body double. My father, your king, needs someone to stand in for him in dangerous places to prevent some scum from trying to kill him." Mariku explained, still smiling cheerfully. Malik, on the other hand, frowned, he was beginning to realise why he had been summoned here. He didn't particularly like that strain of thought.
"And you want me to –" Malik began, staring at the photo of the man that looked like his king.
"I want you, Malik, to be my Fedai, My body double." Before Malik could reply, Mariku continued, "We could be brothers. Everything that I owned would be yours, my cars, my clothes, my money, my women..." He trailed off and watched Malik intently. Malik silently seethed at the inclusion of women as Mariku's property, having been brought up by an extremely outspoken female.
Malik sighed, aware that a 'no' would probably not be taken well. He turned to reply to Mariku, but was interrupted before he could finish the first word.
"That's the deal I'm offering, you be my brother, my other self and I'll give you anything you want." He assured the boy, "You don't have to answer now. I'll give you a few minutes." With that, Mariku strolled from the room, silently enjoying the conflicted emotions that warred behind Malik's eyes, and made his way to the viewing room to watch the poor boy squirm.
Rishid, Mariku's personal assistant and body guard, was waiting in the viewing room for his master. He had watched the poor boy that his master was currently playing with pace and fret for a few moments through a small television screen.
Malik had gone from discomfort to confusion, then from confusion to anger, and finally from anger to hopelessness. Rishid did not, could not, see how Master Mariku could do this to the poor child, he was barely old enough to be a soldier, he wasn't even an adult yet.
The door to the room cracked open and he immediately stood up straight, waiting for his master's orders. When none came, he silently watched Mariku skip into the room and immediately look to the television screen.
"What'd I miss?" Mariku asked with a sickening kind of glee. He looked to Rishid expectantly, and, when he finally received a vague reply of 'not much, master', shrugged and looked back to the TV screen where the boy was staring at his reflection and moaning,
"I can't. I can't. I can't." Mariku grimaced at the boy's reaction.
"I was so sure he'd give in before I had to take extreme measures." He did not speak with remorse or any measure of melancholy, he sounded only mildly interested and vaguely disappointed. He watched the screen for a moment longer then tutted and strolled from the room almost calmly to hear Malik's answer to the deal.
TBC
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh's characters or The Devil's Double's plot
So this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfic. I'm not sure if I have the attention span to make up and keep up a plot of my own, so for now I'm basing this on the movie The Devil's Double. I'll probably end up straying from the plot every so often, but I'll try to go along the same basic plotline.
Although nothing bad has happened so far, the movie that I'm basing this on does have prostitutes, rape and lotsa murder; so I'll probably be upping the rating later on (especially 'cause I'll most likely run out of female characters and end up having a smidge of Yaoi – though it won't be very – erm – descriptive, 'cause I'm bad at that kind of writing.). I'd love reviews, so I'll be happy to hear criticisms, hints, tips and, maybe if I'm really lucky, praise. Then again, I'll be equally happy if anyone actually reads the author notes...
So thanks for reading and if you liked it, tell me 'cause then I'll write more
I'm pretty sure Fedai means body double, but if I'm wrong please correct me..