Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere; for a moment our wings are seen in the light of the fire, and, Lo! we are gone again into the Nowhere. H. Rider Haggard, in King Solomon's Mines

Chapter 2: The Storm Gathers

The wind grew in ferocity as rain collided with the windows. The pitter-patter of the drops seemed unending as it echoed off the panes. The moon could not be seen through the dark cumulonimbus clouds that covered the heavens like a foreboding veil. Lightning briefly illuminated the area before it too vanished into the darkness. The inevitable rumble of thunder was instead a sharp crash that rocked the very earth. In this strange light the trees seemed like people standing aghast at the terrible bellows of the heavens; their shadows transformed into monsters ready to turn on their rooted hosts and on their fellow trees.

The violent dances of the wind and blinding strikes of the clouds formed these illusions; but the seed for such things existed long before the first drop of rain fell. You see, even in the purest of living things exist the shadows of anger, fear, and violence. When these are suppressed and denied they grow; and then one day these shadows shed light on the true monsters within.

Yugi Motou suddenly arose from his bed, his eyes bloodshot and wearied, as what seemed to be the faint echo of a chilling laugh faded out of existence. He seemed to have been startled awake by something though the puzzled look on his face indicated that he could not ascertain the cause. He looked from side to side; obviously disturbed but he still couldn't find the answer. His eyes then landed on his open window.

'It didn't sound like a window opening or thunder…..but I guess it was the storm after all' he silently said to himself. This seemed to calm him down immensely. He lazily kicked off the covers and began to walk towards the window.

Yugi hadn't gotten much sleep since he had finished defeating the North American Continental Champion: Rebecca Hopkins. Though it was fun to see his old friend, he most enjoyed his side trip to New York City. There he was able to visit Anzu after a year apart. She was constantly busy with her training as a dancer and her regular studies at the university; however, she made time to spend lots of time with Yugi who had been similarly busy traveling the world on his Continental Champions Tour. Both she and he were truly sorry to have to leave each other again, but Anzu promised that she would return to Japan during the summer break. Yugi allowed himself a small smile as this thought entered his head.

'It'll be just like old times' he thought to himself as he closed the window and shut the curtains of his room. Though the curtains did little to drown out the incessant noise of the rain and thunder, he preferred not to look out into the approaching thunder-storm. He slowly walked through his hotel room back into his bed. Although he enjoyed seeing America and being the main guest of honor at Kaiba's first North American Kaiba-Land, he was even happier at the prospect of getting on a plane tomorrow and heading back to Japan and to his friends. Though Jyonouchi, Honda, and Ryou joined him on part of his tour, they were forced back to Japan after visiting Anzu two months ago. Yugi finally found sleep again as he silently said goodbye to America and images of his friends flew through his mind.

He was unaware that he would soon be returning to America…..and under very different circumstances.

EGYPT

The screen door to the Ishtar home swung in the rainless storm that enshrouded the desert. Amid the gales of wind and cracks of thunder a piercing scream echoed through the canyon walls. However, the fellow town's people could hear nothing of the scream or the gunshot that had sparked such fear in Marik that he sped to his house not fifteen minutes ago. No, the townsfolk went about their lives, bringing laundry for fear of rain and closing their shops for the night. Not many souls were on the streets, most had sought cover for the night; however, to the one man that was outside, the storm was the least of his worries.

He shook all over as he stood staring at his hand in disbelief. The last drop of wet blood dripped from his palm before he suddenly came to his senses. Tightly squeezing the gun in his pocket he rushed into an alleyway. Though the thunder and wind made it impossible to hear, small sobs came from behind a trashcan.

Back within the Ishtar house, Marik was on his knees shaking as his natural sadness was replaced with a disturbing terror. He grasped his hands around his head and tried to scream again, to scream for help, to scream for Rishid to help him; however, no sound came out. His eyes only continued to stare at the dead body of his brother, wide with fright. He pressed his hands harder and harder against his head trying to forget what he had just heard, trying to remove those terrible images from his mind. However, the flashes wouldn't stop; instead they changed what he actually saw.

Rishid suddenly turned into his father. Marik was once again in the sacred chamber from his past. He was in the chamber where the Millennium Rod was held, the chamber where he had murdered his father. He looked around and saw his sister as a child filled with fear against the wall tears streaming down her face. His father laid there dieing….bleeding……like before. He could see his father's face begging for help, asking for forgiveness suddenly it was Rishid's face, once more, grasping out to Marik asking these same questions. Then he heard that laugh……the laugh that would forever haunt his memory; the demented laugh of his dark personality. However this time it wasn't in his head……no….he was laughing.

He could hear it, feel it coming out of his vocal cords. He could feel the cool metallic feel of the Rod around his fingers as he unsheathed it and allowed the sacred dagger to see the light once more. He would allow the dagger one more taste of blood. He walked slowly to Rishid as he lay there on the sacred floor. He was unconscious, but not fully dead yet. Rishid suddenly flashed back into his adult form, his expression the same as he lay there.

"This time I will make sure you will never come back hehehehaHAHAHAH…..DIE BROTHER!" Marik screamed his voice changing pitch rapidly as his held the dagger above his head laughing that same evil laugh. One eyebrow rose as the other almost closed altering his face into a gross demented form. He swung the chef's knife down ready to pierce Rishid's heart. Beads of sweat from anticipation formed on Marik's brow. His eyes grew wide with fury and a crazed smile crawled through his lips.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marik screamed dropping the chef's knife onto the floor. It stuck into the wooden floor upright a mere three inches from Rishid. Marik was once again in his home, he was once again on the floor with tears in his eyes shaking all over. He was kneeling in front of Rishid's body. Marik now knew that he was truly dead. He slowly looked around, gone were the images of his sister and his father…..gone was the sacred chamber and the Millenium Rod. His eyes slowly landed on the knife stuck into the floor.

"W-W-What…..happened…..where….was I going to…., no no no no no no no NO!" Marik thrashed frantically as he saw the images again. He could see that it was him, him as he was now, killing his father, killing little Rishid on those sacred stones, killing Rishid now as he lay on the hallway floor. "What…..is happening to me…..he..can't be……can't …be…." Marik stammered to himself as his eyes tried to pull themselves away from Rishid's body.

"Alive?" an all too familiar voice asked sarcastically. Its dark voice made every hair on Marik's body stand up on end. He could feel the temperature of the house drop as that one word was spoken. He was sure these words weren't inside of his head any longer, no they were spoken outside of his body. His heart was racing…..he could feel his pulse through his body, his blood flow through his veins.

'N-No……..Yugi and the Pharaoh …….they said….they said that-' Marik's thoughts raced through his head before that same voice interrupted him.

"That I was dead? Hmmm….gone forever? Well, a dear friend once told me that darkness, TRUE DARKNESS, cannot be destroyed. It will always come back to kill those who it despises. I am now that Darkness" the voice declared laughing it the same sick way.

"Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU DAMN YOU?...You…you can't be real….I-I won't let you be," Marik screamed before fear once again dampened his words with their weight. His eyes slowly gazed around the room. For a time everything was silent. However, this did anything but calm Marik down. He began to shake again, worse than before. Images again began to flash through his mind.

It was Domino City. He could see flashes of his Ghoul mind slaves. Their looks of terror as their minds collapsed at his hands. He could see Yugi suffering as Jyonouchi under Marik's control almost killed them both. Mai's face as she realized that she lost. Ra's destruction of Bakura. He saw Jonouchi stop breathing and collapse under the burden of Ra's attack. He could see the tears and sorrow in the eyes of Anzu, Honda, and Shizuka. He saw little Yugi fade away to almost nothing as Atem fell to his knees gasping. He could see Rishid lying in bed. Suddenly Rishid was lying on the floor besides the knife.

"S-S-So much suffering….you have caused to all of us…." Marik spoke out into the darkness. He finally stopped shaking. He slowly stood up and stared at the mirror that hung on the wall. "So much suffering you have caused me and the world to endure. Other me, I will not let you live this time."

Marik was only answered by that same crazed laughter; however, this time he could hear that it was indeed coming from the mirror. He slowly approached the mirror and stood in front of it. Within the mirror was not a reflection Marik, at least the Marik that stood before it, no it was some one different. He mirrored Marik in almost every way save his upright hair and flowing cape. However, the greatest difference between the two was the twisted smile and contorted expression that centered his veined face. His eyes were wide and filled with sick joy as he saw Marik step in front of him.

"Well Marik, it is good to see you again hehe. Though it would be better if you didn't call me 'other me or my dark personality' for I ceased being a part of you three years ago. Once I clamed that body for my own I joined with an unfathomable darkness hehehehe…..DARKNESS ENOUGH TO STAND ABOVE THE PHARAOH. Hehehe….but, with that all changed once Rishid returned. Hehehehe…HAHAHAHAHAHA BUT HE WON'T BE COMING AGAIN, WILL HE? HEHAHAHHA. No I, now more than ever, am conjoined with the darkness. You may refer to me as Yami Marik, at least for these last few minutes of your life." Yami Marik declared in his insane voice. His pitched changed constantly and he stressed random words in his speech, yet these words were enough to drain the determination from Marik's face once more. "OH WHAT'S WRONG? What happened to that anger…hmmm I liked that? Though fear is just as nice" he said with a smirk cracking his neck as he turned his head slightly sideways.

"Why….WHY ARE YOU HERE?...What do you possibly want?" Marik asked desperately. He was angry, no doubt, but his eyes betrayed his true fear. The storm seemed to enter the house at that moment. The winds poured through the open screen door.

"Oh, I want nothing more than my body back. Simply hand it over and your death shall be painless, perhaps" Yami Malik said grinning as his cape fluttered in the breeze.

"NO!……I won't let you….I won't let you hurt more people through me…..I won't be the instrument of you torture….not again," Marik screamed as his tears were wiped from his eyes by the harsh winds.

"OH BUT YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO DO A THING ABOUT IT HAHAHAHHAHA!" Yami Malik screamed, one eye open wildly as the other peered straight at Marik. Marik clenched his fists his anger was beginning to over come his fear. 'Yes, little Marik, get angry, release your darkness once more'

"I won't be….I WILL STOP YOU EVEN AT THE COST OF MY LIFE" Marik screamed punching the mirror and cracking it in several places as Yami Malik pulled back, surprised for the first time. Marik's blood ran down the cracked mirror down the cracks and onto the table. Yami Malik's image still was within the mirror but it was a distorted and broken and its inhabitant's soul. Marik took a step back and quickly searched the floor where he saw the chef's knife stuck into the ground. He rushed forward and grabbed the knife with his bleeding right hand and held it to his left wrist. "I WILL NOT BE USED AGAIN…..I WILL STOP YOU ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!" he screamed as his shaking hand tried to steady the knife.

"WAIT!...Don't you see that you were not an instrument," Yami Malik screamed before calming down. "You wanted revenge, power, money, and freedom; I gave you all that did I not….DID I NOT. The events of the past are as much your fault as they are mine. Don't you remember your father, we killed him Marik, we let his evil blood flow, didn't we" Yami Marik questioned.

Marik stood there as he held the knife tightly to his wrist. His eyes closed as he wished he could just silence Yami Marik's voice. But he couldn't. He could see his father beating Rishid, he remembered holding the dagger, he could see it, see the blood….."BE QUIET…..please….be quiet….just go away…..don't meet me when we go to……hell" Marik suddenly cried as his eyes shot open glaring fiercely.

"What about Rishid's killer?" Yami Marik asked as his demeanor became amazingly calm. The sides of his lips began to curl into smile. Marik stopped suddenly and raised his eyes.

"What…..about him?" Marik asked hesitantly. His hands were shaking again as his eyes darted between Rishid's body and the now smiling figure within the mirror. As he forced his eyes upward, that image of Rishid still flashed in his mind.

"If you kill yourself…..then who will KILL the man responsible for this? Who will make HIM suffer, make him feel TRUE FEAR AND PAIN?" Yami Marik, realizing he had regained control, began to scream. "WHO WILL MAKE HIM SCREAM AND BEG AS RISHID DID? Marik, WE will. HEHEHEH WE will make him feel what TRUE PAIN IS!"

Marik was afraid, but within him his anger grew. He could feel Yami Marik's words within him. He could see Rishid's face his eyes….. 'Surely he deserves justice……The one who killed him….he took him away. This is his fault…He deserves to feel pain…deserves to…to DIE!' Marik thoughts raced together in his mind. Suddenly, before he understood what had happened, he felt a hand around his neck and he slammed into the wall behind him. The knife dropped into the floor once more, this time falling on its side.

Yami Malik stood, now in full physical form holding Marik against the wall with one hand. His face was contorted with laughter as his eyes grew wider with joy as he saw that Marik finally understood what had happened. "A little anger can go a long way hehehehehHAHAHAHHA. It seems Rishid was good for something after all HAHAHAHA," Yami Malik mocked as he kicked Rishid's dead body down the hall. Marik winced, as if he felt the pain Rishid would have felt. Suddenly the demented face turned back to Marik. His veins were throbbing terribly as the wind from the storm blew his cape in the gale. Lightning struck nearby, casting a dark shadow over the face of Yami Marik momentarily. "It is time to die Marik, you have held me back for far too long." Yami Marik whispered with a false whimper in his voice before bursting out in an insane crackling chuckle.

'I failed…..again….I couldn't stop him...' Marik thought in despair. "Rishid…..RISHID, ISIS, …..EVERYONE I AM SO SOR-" Marik screamed out before Yami Malik's palm grasped around his face slamming his head into the wall.

"Goodbye……Marik," the dark being whispered. Although Marik's eyes were open, darkness slowly swirled through his eyes. Everything slowed down and became black.

Then there was only dark silence on every side. Nothingness….true nothingness.

The Ishtar home was again illuminated by a flash of lightning and echoed with a rumble of thunder. The limp body of Marik, once leaning on the wall, fell face forward onto the ground where Rishid's body once lay. A cold gust of wind blew pieces of the broken mirror of the table, across the floor. Marik's right hand twitched slightly, before his eyes shot open. He slowly rose, his knees cracking as he did so. Raising his right knuckles to his mouth he slowly licked away the blood with a grin. His eyes grew wide as he arched his back and broke out in a hideous laugh; its perverse melody echoing throughout the empty home.

UNITED STATES: CALIFORNIA

The winds swept the dark waves as they slammed into the cliffs below. Their white formed toped deeply contrasted with their deep and dark green color. However, these waves were simply mirrors of the foreboding sky above. The clouds swirled high above the crashing waves; however, they were no less violent. Lightning raced through them at alarming speeds and frequency. Although no rain fell, their high winds cause the trees to twist and contort into unnatural shapes. A lone figure stood on his balcony staring out into the approaching storm.

He was tall and his silver hair danced in the oncoming wind; however, he wore a distressed look, which did not suit his usually happy face. Although his hair completely covered his left eye, his right eye gazed out at the storm with a deeply questioning look.

"Mr. Pegasus, sir, please it might rain soon and your suit is an expensive one. Would you not prefer to come inside and read a bit of your favorite comic?" a dark suited man asked coming out unto the balcony with Pegasus. His sunglasses made him appear foolish in such weather but he seemed to actually care about his employer.

"Croquet…..the weather reports; they didn't say anything about a storm such as this, did they?" Pegasus asked with a sidelong glance.

"Well….no sir, they actually predicted a rather sunny day for us. How did you know, I thought the report only aired the same time as your favorite cartoon?" Croquet asked perplexed. Any stranger to the ways of Pegasus J. Crawford, such as you or me, would see nothing perplexing about his deviation from a supposed favorite cartoon. However, Croquet knew Pegasus for years, and he knew that his employer never deviated from his schedule much less his cartoons.

"Hmmm….just a guess I suppose," Pegasus said as if to reassure himself. 'I haven't been able to see things others cannot since my Millennium Eye was taken from me….and yet what is this I feel now….?' Pegasus thought as he turned around making sure his hair still covered the left side of his face. Smiling gently he added, "Yes Croquet lets go in, perhaps Wiley Rabbit will cheer this storm right away."

EGYPT

A dark figure slowly walked through the empty streets. No cars, no people, nothing but small swirls of sand and a stray dog could be seen moving….well, other than this figure. He slumped along as if he was having trouble walking, as if it had been years since he had last walked upon the earth with two legs. He stopped and looked back and forth as if searching for something, feeling for something. He continued along his shadow seeming to grow and shrink in the flashing lights of the broken streetlamps. Although he was walking upright, his face was hidden by the shadow of his immense hair. Standing straight up and back, his hair made him a much more imposing figure than he was. He walked past another alleyway; however, this time he stopped and turned around. He began to walk into the alleyway.

The figure walked down the alley for a small time before he heard a slight whimper emanating from behind a row of trashcans. His dark smile glistened in the dim light. Kicking the trashcans away, he revealed a small shaking man whose eyes grew wide with fear.

"M-M-Marik, sir, I am….sorry. No one was supposed to be there. No one was supposed to be home….I only brought to gun to protect me from wolves on the way back into town. I didn't mean to,...Rishid he surprised me, he jumped out at me…I AM SORRY MARIK SIR…PLEASE, I only wanted your prized deck. Here it is….sir, spare me," the quivering and sniffling man fell to his knees apologizing and crying in fear. He held out his hand which contained a deck box made of a dark metal. It seemed to be locked with a key hole taking the place of the usual fastener. The man's eyes started to glace up at the figure's face, however his eyes again darted downward as he saw the figure approaching. It began to speak with a deep voice that he had never heard before; however it instantly filled him with even more horror.

"Hmph, I wondered where the fool tried to hide it," the dark figure stated with a sigh as he quickly snatched the deck box from the man. "Did you really think the Continental Champion would not carry his deck with him at all times? Ha, fool….you didn't have Marik's deck in you grasp, you had something far more valuable," the figure said chuckling to himself. He slowly helped the man up back onto his feet, the lack of light still cloaking his face in darkness.

"T-Thank you Marik sir, thank you for your forgiveness" the man sniffled trying to regain his composure but obviously confused by the figure's words.

"Oh, surely you don't think you are forgiven?" the figure quickly said as his mouth opened into a full grin. He jabbed his knee into the man, sending him flying backwards into the wall. The man was at a loss and didn't even realize his head was bleeding. He was again shaking with fear as he held his gun straight at the dark figure in defense.

"Leave…n-n-now please, I w-will shoot you," he stammered. His hands were shaking but the gun was steady enough that if fired it would hit the figure. However, the dark figure only threw his head and large hair backwards screaming with insane laughter.

The figure quickly raised his head, and turning his head to one side began to chuckle again. "Go right ahead, it has been sooo long since I have felt pain. Go, GO SHOOT ME HAHAHAHA," the figure laughed in the man's face. Suddenly the man's finger slipped and the gun discharged. Not knowing what to do the man unloaded the entire barrel at the dark figure. However, instead of screams, he only heard the clanking of the bullets against the stone floor. The lights above this scene suddenly snapped back into life. The man's mouth opened even wider as his eyes began to twitch in horror.

Yami Malik stood there, completely unharmed and still laughing. However, the man's attention was taken by the shadow that had seemed to intercept the bullets. Yami Marik's shadow somehow rose off the ground and had formed a wall that had allowed the bullets to hit it. The last bullet fell from the shapeless wall of shadow falling to the ground with a clank. The shadow wall slowly fell back onto the floor, again taking the shape of the insanely laughing man.

"Your…..Your…not the one I knew before…..Your are not Marik…..Who…..What are you?" the man asked his face frozen with shock, the words barely escaping from his mouth.

Yami Malik's shadow again seemed to change shape. Its features became that of a great dragon. Long and thin with spines down its back. It rose out of the ground becoming three dimensional. It reared back with a horrible cry a lunged forward at the pitiful man.

"I am the Apocalypse, the end of the world" he answered as his eyes grew wild with joy. Blood splattered on the walls of the alley as horrible screams and even more threatening laughter were lost to the sounds of the wind.

UNITED STATES: CHICAGO

"MARIK!" a young woman suddenly screamed rapidly sitting up in here bed. She wore a strange outfit; Middle Eastern in nature although she was currently in America. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulder as her eyes grew wide with fright and her voice betrayed her own terror at something she had seen while asleep. She cautiously looked around but could see nothing in here hotel room from the bit of light let in by her open window.

"What on earth has happened? Brother…..what is going on?" she asked as she looked out that window….the clouds were dark, a storm seemed to be coming.

END

NEW CARDS: NONE