Title: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 2)– Murky Objectives
Pairing: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort)
Rating: M
Summary: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.
The week following the incident was hectic, but for completely mundane reasons. Ryou and Marik had a variety of tests and projects in nearly every class, which kept them busy the whole time. Marik had thrown himself into his work completely, surprising everyone with how well he did – and also angering a few when he threw off the curve.
Ryou had done pretty much the same as he always did, higher in some classes than in others, but overall fairly well – in the classes that had graded the tests already, at least.
Marik hadn't said anything about the event since it happened, but his behavior had changed. He hadn't pounced on Ryou all week, though whether it was because he thought it might draw his dark side out or because he thought Ryou wouldn't want him to after what happened, Ryou wasn't sure. Ryou was starting to miss it more and more as the days passed.
Marik had been leaving the others alone as well, and they were starting to notice something was off. Marik had asked Ryou and Yugi not to say anything to anyone about what happened, though he'd seemed more concerned about Ishizu and Odion finding out than anyone else. Yugi had agreed reluctantly, clearly not happy with keeping secrets, but Ryou had agreed far more readily. He was used to secrets.
Thus far they'd been able to keep this particular one under wraps fairly easily, though that was mostly because there hadn't been much opportunity to reveal it.
It was Saturday now, and Ryou was hoping for a nice, peaceful weekend after the chaos of the preceding week. He slept late to make up for lost sleep the previous week, though he'd awoken briefly earlier that morning to the sound of Marik wandering around the apartment.
He slid out of bed sometime before noon, not wanting the entire weekend to pass him by while he dozed. He made his bed, then picked out some clothes to wear. He rid himself of his pajamas and quickly slipped into his underwear, knowing that Marik often had the unfortunate habit of–
"Good morning!"
–bursting into his room without so much as a knock. The bathroom door had a lock on it, but neither of the bedrooms did. Ryou counted himself lucky that he'd even had his underwear on this time. He was still embarrassed by the last time Marik had walked in on him naked.
Marik, for his part, hadn't seemed to care. 'We're both guys,' he'd said when he'd seen Ryou turn bright red. 'It's not like I saw anything new.'
'Y-yeah,' Ryou had replied, unable to explain why it had affected him so much. He'd thrown some clothes on before he could think too hard about being naked in a room with Marik in it, or have an unfortunate visible reaction to the situation.
Things weren't so urgent this time. "Good morning," he said, putting on his jeans.
Marik jumped onto Ryou's bed and landed with a bounce. "What're you doing today?" he asked.
"I haven't decided yet," Ryou said, suppressing a yawn. "Not studying, though," he added.
Marik made a face. "Definitely not studying." He bounced on the bed again, then stood up. "We should go somewhere," he said, slinging an arm over Ryou's bare shoulder.
Ryou took a deep breath, forcing himself to act normal. There was nothing strange about having an arm over his shoulder, even if it was Marik's arm, and he was shirtless. He being Ryou, of course, because Marik actually wasn't shirtless just then. Not that Ryou was thinking about Marik being shirtless, or both of them being shirtless, or both of them touching each other while being shirtless. No, that wasn't even–
"Bakura?" Marik poked Ryou's side, startling him.
"Um. R-right," Ryou said, voice a little rough. He cleared his throat. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, disentangling himself from Marik and picking up his shirt.
"I don't know," Marik said. He stared at Ryou for a moment, thinking. Ryou slid his shirt on and started buttoning it up, waiting for his response.
Marik clapped his hands together, having a sudden inspiration. "We could go swimming."
Ryou finished the top button and stared at him, wondering why he'd thought of that before anything else. "Isn't it a little cold for that?" he asked. It was something of an understatement. Not only was it the middle of October, it was the middle of an unseasonably cold October, the worst Domino City had seen in some time. The local weather man had even predicted snow for next week.
"We could go to an indoor pool," Marik said. "There probably wouldn't be very many people."
That's certainly true... Ryou thought. "Maybe another time," he said, knowing Marik probably wouldn't go long without asking him again. Marik hadn't ever been swimming before he came to Domino, and the rest of the group had taken turns showing him how. Ryou couldn't say any of them had been good teachers, exactly (he included himself in that assessment), but between the five of them, they'd managed to keep him from drowning. Marik had gotten the hang of it eventually, though he still seemed to have more fun splashing than actually swimming. "It's less fun inside," Ryou said, knowing that Marik would find it a convincing argument.
Marik nodded. "We can't roll around or make sandcastles," he said. "We could go for a motorcycle ride," he suggested.
"Not today," Ryou said, knowing that whenever Marik wanted to 'go for a motorcycle ride', they were likely to end up lost somewhere a hundred or more miles away after Marik convinced him of the need to 'see what's out there'. Marik always managed it, too. Once Ryou became overwhelmed by the terror and joy of zooming around at break-neck speeds with nothing but Marik to cling to, his sense of good judgment... weakened a little.
He'd almost been too terrified to even get on the thing with Marik at first, but if he'd refused Marik's offer of a daily ride to Domino University, he'd have been left with no easy way of getting there. His father had chosen the apartment based on cost, not location.
"I'm too worn out to do anything that exciting," Ryou said. "We could go to the game shop. Yugi will be there. We still have to think about classes for next semester."
"We have weeks to do that," Marik said. "But we could always just visit."
The game shop looked pretty much the same as it did every other time they visited. Gaming posters on the walls, models and board games lining the shelves, cards under the glass counter at the back. Yugi was sitting behind the cash register, studying Duel Monsters cards with Joey over the counter.
The bell clanged as they walked inside, making Yugi and Joey look up. "Hey guys," Yugi said.
"So how's school treating ya?" Joey asked.
He and Téa had been the only two in the group not to go on to college. Téa had gone to New York to attend a dancing school, Tristan had gone to another university, and Joey had started playing professional Duel Monsters. He still had yet to beat Yugi, but since Yugi was too busy with college to attend most tournaments, it didn't really matter. Between the prize money he won at smaller tournaments and a part time job at the game shop, Joey made enough to keep himself going.
"Ugh," Marik said, taking a seat next to Yugi behind the counter. "Don't ask."
Ryou pulled up a chair next to Joey. "Midterms," he explained.
"Yeah, Yugi told me you guys had a lot of tests this week," Joey said. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms out. "I am so glad I don't have to deal with any of that anymore."
"Have you picked your classes yet?" Yugi asked.
"Not yet," Marik said, frowning. "We can't officially register until the students ahead of us are done, anyway."
Yugi shrugged. "Still... I've picked most of mine already. I want to start on real archeology classes."
"Already?" Ryou said. It felt too soon for him to be doing that. Neither Ryou nor Marik had even decided what they wanted to study. They'd stuck to the general classes required for everyone for their first semester. All Ryou knew was that he didn't want to study archeology. His father had asked him if he intended to follow in his footsteps, but he'd seemed relieved, not disappointed when Ryou had said no.
Yugi nodded. "There are some really interesting ones! I'm going to take a class on Ancient Egyptian religion if I can get in."
Marik twitched almost unnoticeably. "That's nice," he said vaguely. He shook his head, then smiled. The smile looked a little weak to Ryou, but nobody else seemed to find anything odd about it. "I could help you study, if you want." His shoulders tensed.
Yugi shook his head. "No, I would need to do the work myself. It would be too easy to depend on you for everything."
Marik's shoulders relaxed. "Yeah, it's probably better that way." He smiled again, genuinely this time.
Joey wagged a finger at them disappointedly. "I still don't know how the three of you can be in college, and only be thinking about classes."
Yugi put a hand over his eyes. "Joey..." he said. They all knew where this was going.
"No, listen," Joey said. "You're surrounded by girls." He turned to Ryou. "If things are anything like high school, they're probably all over y– hey, what's that?" He grabbed Ryou's collar, pulling it aside to fully reveal the healed bite mark. Joey grinned. "When did you get this?"
"Er. Last w-week," Ryou stammered, too surprised to lie. Not that lying about the time frame would really help. He looked around. Marik had gone completely still in his chair, hands clenched into fists in his lap. He glanced at Ryou, then looked down at the floor. Yugi was watching him intently, as though curious about what he would say.
Joey was too focused on the bite to notice any of this. "Where'd you get it? Was she cute?"
"Um. Y-yeah?" Ryou said, figuring it was probably the expected answer. He wanted to see Marik's reaction, but he knew looking at Marik just then would be giving away the truth about who'd done it, in a way, even if Joey didn't pick up on it. If nothing else, he might think Marik had more information and ask him about it.
"C'mon, you have to give more details than that," Joey said.
"He doesn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to," Yugi said.
Ryou looked at him gratefully. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said. "We're not really... together, or anything."
Joey's eagerness didn't diminish any. "All the more reason to..."
"Didn't you want to play Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked him.
Joey's attention was suddenly fully diverted. "A real game?" he asked. "Of course!" He turned to Ryou. "He hasn't wanted to play all week."
"I've wanted to play, I've just been too busy," Yugi said. "I have time now."
"Excuses, excuses," Joey said, waving a hand dismissively. "You're so out of practice I'll beat you in under five minutes."
That got a laugh out of everyone, including Marik, who now showed no signs of the discomfort he'd felt earlier. "This I have to see," he said.
One game had turned into several games, all of which Joey had lost. He'd held out a little longer each time, though, and afterwards Yugi had said that he was improving. Marik and Ryou had headed home after dinner, having had enough Duel Monsters for one day.
When they went inside the apartment, they found a sauna waiting for them. "Ah, wow..." Ryou said. He'd been about to close the door, but he decided to leave it open instead. "Did you turn the heat up?" he asked Marik. They'd disagreed about how warm the apartment needed to be in the past, but even Marik hadn't ever thought it should be quite that hot.
"A little," Marik said. "Not this much, though." He walked over to the thermostat and turned it down. "I must have accidentally set it too high."
"I didn't know it could go this high," Ryou said, sticking his head out the door to cool off. When he came back inside, he saw Marik taking his shirt off.
"It's going to be hot in here for a while," Marik said.
Ryou tried not to stare. "I'll go open the kitchen window," he said. The other windows in the apartment had already been sealed for the winter – they'd done it in the hopes of a lower heating bill. Ryou sighed. He went to the kitchen to open the window, then went back to the living room.
Marik was sitting on the couch, already changed into shorts. "Aren't you hot in that?" he asked.
"I'm fine" Ryou said. His summer clothes were already packed away. He probably had something lighter than what he was wearing somewhere in his dresser, but it felt too hot to bother looking.
"I'll get something to drink," Marik said. He disappeared into the kitchen, then reappeared with two glasses filled with ice water. "Here you– ack!" he tripped over a spot on the floor, sending the water flying all over Ryou.
Ryou was silent with shock for a moment, then let out a little squeak. He shivered, shaking the ice off himself.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Marik said, putting the glasses on the table and helping him brush off the ice. "Here, I'll take care of this. You should probably take that off..."
"I think I'll leave it on," Ryou said, the shock starting to wear off. "It feels nice," he added. The ice-cold water was now merely cold water, and the damp fabric of his shirt felt pleasantly cool in the hot apartment. "It's probably a good thing you spilled it on me, actually."
Marik snickered. "At least some good came of it, I guess." He plunked the ice cubes back into one of the glasses, then carried the whole thing back to the kitchen. "I'll get something else, then we can watch TV," he said.
"Good idea," Ryou said, happy with anything that didn't involve moving around in the heat.
They'd watched an entire movie and were half-way through another one by the time the temperature had gotten down to an endurable level. They closed the door, but left the window open. Ryou's shirt had long since dried off. He had lain on the couch while Marik took a spot on the floor in front of it.
Marik had been glancing at him more and more often as they watched the movie, his body filled with the restless energy that in the past would have guaranteed a scuffle on the floor of their apartment. Ryou wondered if Marik would give in and return to his favorite game, or if he would continue to hold out.
Ryou hoped he would give in.
It seemed like his hope was not to be, however. They made it through the rest of the movie without Marik so much as touching him.
Ryou handed Marik the remote when the movie ended. "I'm going to bed," he said, looking forward to more sleep. He patted Marik on the shoulder, then stood up.
Marik stood as well, turning the TV off. He turned to Ryou, looking nothing if not ready to pounce.
Ryou prepared himself for a sudden tackle, but nothing came.
Marik frowned, then shook his head, setting the remote down on the table. He took a deep breath, then doubled over, face in his hands.
"Marik?" Ryou asked, already fearing the worst.
"G-get away," Marik said desperately. "I have a headache..."
Ryou immediately retreated behind the couch. He knew he should probably go farther, but he didn't feel like he could just leave Marik behind, suffering who knew what fate at the hands of his dark side.
"No..." Marik said. "You–"
Whatever he'd intended to say was cut off as his form nearly doubled in size. Ryou took a step back, ready to run if necessary.
Marik's dark side stood tall, grinning at him horribly. He moved his head in a circle, then shook his shoulders as though warming up.
"W-what do you want?" Ryou asked. He'd never been happier to own a couch than he was at that moment.
"What do you think I want?" not-Marik replied scornfully. "I want to hurt you." He stalked around the side of couch.
Ryou quickly headed in the other direction, unwilling to give up the barrier between them. "Why?" Ryou asked. He'd been wondering all week why Marik's dark side had attacked him, though this wasn't the way he'd hoped to find out the answer.
Not-Marik shrugged. "Because I want to."
"That's not a real reason," Ryou said. He knew his objection was unlikely to change not-Marik's mind, but he felt the need to say it anyway.
"You want me to make something up?" not-Marik asked him. "The way he does?"
It took Ryou a moment to figure out what he meant. "Marik doesn't invent reasons to do things," he protested. "And definitely not to hurt people."
Not-Marik laughed. It was a violent, sickening sound. "Especially to hurt people," he said. "But other things, too." He moved from side to side, switching directions whenever Ryou did.
Ryou was starting to wonder if he should just try to maintain his position, when not-Marik leapt right over the couch and pinned him to the ground. He grabbed Ryou's wrists before Ryou could even think of recovering, slamming them to the floor. They didn't feel broken, thankfully, but Ryou was sure they would bruise.
Ryou struggled against the hand pinning him to no avail. How can he be so strong?
His fight wasn't even enough to annoy Marik's dark side. If anything, he seemed to think it was funny. "Heh. So pathetic. Even my weaker half could hold you down." He grabbed the collar of Ryou's shirt with his free hand.
"Not easily," Ryou said, attempting to slam his knee into not-Marik's weaker areas. He didn't care if someone thought he was weaker than Marik, but the inaccuracy of not-Marik's statement left Ryou wondering exactly how much of Marik's experiences the darker part even had access to.
Not-Marik grunted when the knee hit him, but otherwise didn't react. "More easily than you think," he said. "He just never does it. Wants everyone to see how harmless he is." He pressed down hard on Ryou's wrists to emphasize the word.
"Oh," Ryou said, mind spinning too much for him to even think of arguing. Does Marik really think that way?
Not-Marik didn't give him much time to ponder the question. He yanked on the collar of Ryou's shirt with more force than any normal human could muster.
"H-hey!" Ryou said, partly in confusion at what he was doing, but also in pain from the sudden, rough movement of the fabric against his skin. It wasn't as bad as a rug burn on rough carpet, but he knew it would probably leave a red spot on his neck near the newly-healed bite mark.
It seemed like a bizarre method to go about hurting him, but then, it didn't even seem like that was the point at the moment. If anything, not-Marik seemed more intent on hurting his shirt than him. He yanked the collar again, growling in frustration when it didn't accomplish whatever he'd intended. He let go of the collar and grabbed the front of Ryou's shirt instead. He ripped the shirt open with one hand, scraping his surprisingly sharp nails against Ryou's chest. Buttons flew everywhere.
Ryou winced at the scratches, though he could tell they weren't very deep. He didn't say anything this time, feeling that it was better to have not-Marik's attention on his shirt than on him.
Not-Marik made a pleased sound, then tore both sides of the shirt right off his body, splitting the fabric at the seams. He grabbed the tail of what was left of Ryou's shirt, then ripped it right from under him, leaving him in nothing but the sleeves.
Ryou's back felt like it was on fire, but it was nothing compared to some of the more serious injuries he'd suffered in the past. He stared at not-Marik, starting to feel more puzzled than afraid.
Not-Marik attempted to tear one sleeve off of him, snarling when he couldn't manage it with one hand. Ryou's fear returned full force when not-Marik opened his mouth, clearly intending to bite, but the fear dissipated a little when not-Marik bit his sleeve instead of his neck. Holding the sleeve in place with his teeth, not-Marik now had no trouble ripping the fabric along the seam. He made short work of both sleeves, leaving Ryou completely shirtless. The scraps of fabric lay scattered all over the floor where not-Marik had flung them.
Ryou stared up at not-Marik, unable to think anything beyond 'What now?'
But not-Marik didn't seem to know either. He looked Ryou over disinterestedly, as though he hadn't planned any further than tearing Ryou's shirt to shreds. He probably hasn't, Ryou realized. He probably couldn't even tell me why he did it in the first place.
Not-Marik glared at Ryou, seeming displeased by something he saw in his expression. He made an irritated sound, swiped his sharp fingernails across Ryou's stomach, and then collapsed on top of him, shrinking down to Marik's normal size.
Ow! Ryou cringed at suddenly having his sore back shoved down into the wooden floor, but quickly recovered. He tilted the head on his chest upward to verify the identity, then hugged Marik as though he hadn't seen him in decades.
It took Marik a few moments to respond. His eyes didn't open at first, but his head moved on Ryou's chest, showing signs of life, if not wakefulness. He shifted his weight downward, as though he'd just found a nice, warm pillow to sleep on and was settling in for a long nap.
In any other situation, Ryou would have been thrilled (if nervous) to been in their current position, but the whole thing was soured by the events preceding it. He shook Marik's shoulder gently. "Marik," he said.
"Huh?" Marik said groggily, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He propped himself up on one arm, looking Ryou over in confusion. "Am I dreaming?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not," Ryou said.
Marik's eyes blinked a few times, then widened. "Him, again?" he asked, taking in the scene with a new understanding. He picked up a scrap of Ryou's shirt from the floor, then dropped it again. He looked at the scratches on Ryou's stomach with a pained expression. "How much did he hurt you?" he asked quietly.
"Not much," Ryou said. "He, uh, only really seemed to want the shirt."
"The shirt?" Marik asked, clearly bewildered. He picked up another piece of fabric and stared at it as though trying to figure out what his dark side could possibly have wanted with it.
"Yeah," Ryou said. "He only hurt me indirectly, while trying to get at it. Except for that," Ryou pointed at the scratch on his stomach.
"So... A scratch on your stomach, some more over here," Marik brushed a finger over the small cuts on Ryou's chest. "A mark on your neck," he continued, sounding more depressed as the list got longer. "Your wrists..." he added, tracing the red marks from where not-Marik's hand had gripped them. "Anything else?"
"My back," Ryou said.
Marik froze for a moment before responding. "What did he do to your back?" he asked, sliding off of Ryou to sit on the floor next to him.
Ryou sat up and turned slightly to show him. "It happened when he tore the back off my shirt."
Marik looked like he'd suddenly regained the ability to breathe. "Right," he said, closing his eyes for a moment in relief. "Right. Like you said, he only wanted the shirt..." He looked at the shirt piece again, then shook his head. "You need to be patched up," he said. "We have band-aids for the scratches, but I'm not sure what to do about your back."
Ryou stood up. "I have aloe in the fridge," he said. "And more in the bathroom, if I'm out of that." Ryou's pale skin sunburned so easily that he kept a large supply of both aloe and sunscreen stocked up at all times. The burning sensation on his back may not have actually been a sunburn, but it certainly felt like one. He turned toward the kitchen.
Marik stopped him. "You sit down," he said. "I'll get it."
Ryou nodded, sitting down on the couch.
Marik stopped in both the kitchen and the bathroom, returning with both the aloe and various first aid supplies. He sat down on the couch next to Ryou, cleaning the scratches and then putting band-aids on them. "I'm really sorry," he said, eyes averted. "I wish I could even give a reason why this happened, but there's just nothing..."
"Maybe he really was angry about the shirt I ruined?" Ryou said. He didn't have much confidence in that explanation, but it was the only thing he could think of that related to what had just happened.
"And he did this as revenge?" Marik asked, not sounding like he bought it either. He rubbed the cool aloe on Ryou's neck. "I guess it's possible, but I still can't see him caring about it. Did he say anything?" He gestured for Ryou to turn around.
Ryou shifted around so Marik had access to his back. "Um," he started, remembering all the things Marik's dark side had said. "He said he didn't have a reason for anything he did." Ryou fell silent, unsure he should bring up what Marik's dark side had said about Marik himself. Does it really matter whether he loses at wrestling on purpose? Can I really believe what his dark side has to say, anyway? How could he know what Marik's reasons for doing things are, when he doesn't even know why he does things himself?
"Is that everything?" Marik asked, not seeming to expect anything else. He slathered aloe onto Ryou's back.
"Basically everything," Ryou said. He sighed in relief when he felt the cool aloe spread over his back.
"Feeling any better?" Marik asked hopefully.
"Much better," Ryou said. It was true, too. He could already tell that his skin was less damaged than it would have been with a sunburn, just based on how effective the aloe had been.
"Good," Marik said, rubbing Ryou's shoulder affectionately. "Listen..."
Ryou turned to face him, concerned by the sadness he heard in Marik's voice. "What is it?"
"If you want me to move out, I will," Marik said, not looking at Ryou's face. He tried to smile. "It's okay."
It's not okay! Ryou shook his head frantically. "I don't want you to move out." He tried not to feel like Marik was abandoning him, since that wasn't the point, but the prospect of having the closest friend he'd ever had move out and leave him once again to a lonely, empty apartment disturbed him far more than the thought of Marik's dark side attacking him again.
"What if he comes out again?" Marik asked.
"I don't care," Ryou said adamantly, before realizing his statement could be taken the wrong way. "Er, I don't mean that I don't care about-"
"I get what you meant," Marik said. "Are you sure, though?"
"I'm sure," Ryou said.
"Thanks," Marik said, squeezing Ryou's hand. "Be sure to sleep on your stomach tonight."
Ryou nodded. "I'll do that," he said. "Good night," he added, heading to his room. He put on his pajama bottoms, but forewent the top for the night. He positioned himself on his stomach, just as Marik had advised. He hoped he wouldn't roll over during the night.
The current crisis was over, but Ryou knew it wasn't the end. Marik's dark side had shown up twice in the span of week now, and Ryou doubted the destruction of a shirt would be satisfying enough to keep him away. He also knew that if things got too dangerous, Marik would likely move out no matter how much he protested.
One thing was clear: if he wanted to hold onto his friendship with Marik, and if he wanted to stop his friend from falling apart, Ryou would need to figure out why his dark side had returned, and how to get rid of him.