Joey, Yugi, Tristan, and Tea were trying to figure out why that stuff was in this box.
It was odd because some of them knew that the only two people among them who had Change of Heart cards were Yugi and Ryou. And neither Millenium item had been seen in months. And Marik no longer used the fake Ra cards.
So why was this stuff here now?
However, Marik and Ryou knew exactly why.
It was the box of mementos of both of their Yamis. Bakura and Melvin.
Someone finally decided to say something. "Marik, why is your Rod and Ryou's Ring here?" asked Yugi.
"And why are those cards there? Are they both yours?" asked Tristan.
"And what's that red stuff on the Millenium Ring, Ryou?" asked Joey.
Tea said nothing.
Marik and Ryou were silent. Looking at this little memento of that day, both of them started to remember the events that had occurred.
Marik remembered what he had seen through his eyes while Melvin controled his body.
Ryou remembered his argument with Bakura and how he had avenged him.
"Guys?" Tea said to them. She had noticed their silence and was becoming concerned.
Marik finally found his voice. "Um..." he muttered with a weak voice. Well... To answer Yugi's question, we had issues with them and kinda shoved them in there for safe-keeping. To answer Joey's question, shut up. To answer Tristan's question, Ra is mine and the other is-"
"Mine," Ryou finally spoke. His voice sounded weak and sad. The others looked over at him.
Tears were running down his face.
He continued. "And that red stuff is Marik's blood."
"What?!" everyone except Marik and Ryou cried. They all looked at him with shocked expressions.
"Are you serious?" Tristan asked him. "Marik is that true?"
Marik looked at Ryou. He hesitated, but nodded.
"What do you mean by that, Ry?" Joey asked Ryou.
Ryou shook his head and stepped away from everyone else. Tea and Yugi also stood up, but didn't move. "I-I don't wanna...s-s-say it..." he stuttered. He walked away slowly and sat down in front of the couch, wrapped his arms around his knees, and hid his head in his arms. He continued to cry silently.
Everyone stared at him worriedly. Then they turned to look at Marik.
After a few seconds Marik looked away as well and noticed everyone staring at him. "What?!" he cried.
"Do you know why he's upset?" Yugi asked him.
Marik sighed and looked back at Ryou. "Should I tell them?" he asked Ryou.
Ryou picked up his head, nodded twice, then put his head back down.
"Tell us what?!" demanded Tristan. "What's going on here? What happened?"
Marik sighed again, his eyes starting to tear up as well.
"Alright, it's time you people knew. We- I lied about that thing that happened a few months ago. You remember the supposed break-in that left me and him severely injured?"
The four murmured their agreements. They all remembered. They had always still wondered about that because neither Marik nor Ryou had ever spoken about it again.
"Well it wasn't that at all. It was a fight. A serious one between our Yamis."
"What?!" Yugi exclaimed.
The Pharaoh had been quiet this whole time, just hanging out in his soul room and keeping himself occupied while Yugi had fun with the others. But he still could hear what they were saying. Now that Marik had mentioned Bakura and Melvin, he became interested and started paying closer attention.
"It was horrible," Marik continued. "I was out of action, but I was still able to see most of it. Ryou was in his soul room the whole time." Marik stopped abruptly, wondering if they would push for more.
Joey did. "Come on," he coaxed. "Tell us. Don't keep hiding this from us. We're your friends. You can trust us."
"I second that," Tea said.
"Me too," added Yugi.
"Me three," added Tristan. "I mean four."
They all smiled at him. Marik looked back at Ryou. His face was still tear-stained, but he wasn't crying anymore.
But not for long.
Marik moved over to Ryou and sat next to him in the same style, then put an arm around him.
The others followed. Tea sat near Marik, Yugi sat near Ryou, Tristan sat next to Tea across from Yugi, and Joey sat next to Yugi across from. The four of them sat in a sort of square around Marik and Ryou. They looked at the two guys who sat side by side, who were probably thinking about whatever bad stuff had happened that day.
Marik looked at everyone's face. They looked anxious and attentive and expectant. They waited for him to start.
Marik stood up and walked over to the box on the table. He removed the Millenium items inside. He sat back down in his orignal position, placed each item next to its respective owner, and put his arm around Ryou again.
Just as he did months ago, in this very same room, while sitting next to this same person, he once again began to retell the story of the last fight between Melvin and Bakura.
The Pharaoh looked at the Millenium Ring through Yugi's eyes. Before Marik started speaking, he noticed something.
"Yugi..." he mentally said to his hikari.
"Yeah?" Yugi asked.
"About the Ring... I'm not sure exactly what this means, but for some reason I can't sense the spirit of the Millenium Ring in there."
"What?"
"The other Bakura isn't there," the Pharaoh explained. "At all."
"But how? Does that mean he's gone to another body or something like that? Or that he's been released? Is that possible?"
"Yes, both are possible, but unlikely. Either way he would still have a connection with the Ring. But I sense none of that. Other than the Shadow magic it naturally has, the Ring is completely empty."
Yugi gasped internally. "So does that mean that Yami Bakura is-?"
Yugi didn't get to finish his thought. Marik had started talking.
"I woke up one morning after having a nightmare about the Tombkeeper's Initiation again. It was the day Ryou was coming over. I was getting ready for him when I came across the Millenium Rod. And I had some friggin mosquito bites so my back was itching. Between the dream and the memories and the Rod and my back, I was generally in a depressed mood that morning. And my darker side tried to take advantage of that."
"Dat bastard!" Joey randomly shouted.
"Shut up!" Tristan yelled as he smaked Joey backside the head.
"Ow," he said.
"Sh!" Tea hushed. "Go on," she urged Marik.
Marik continued.
"Anyway. I was in a weak state of mind and heart. Melvin knew that and was able to overpower me. He trapped my mind and took over my body again. I was helpless. I could still see out of my eyes though, which is how I was able to know what happened."
"Then I got there and that's when things turned bad," Ryou said, having finally decided to say something. "I'd never seen him before, so I didn't know who he was or what he was like. He pretended to be covering for Marik who was sick. Then he asked me for a hug."
"Oh no, not a 'hug'!" Yugi commented.
"I was all like 'Sure, why not?' and I decided to give it to him."
"But before he did, me and Melvin both noticed that the Millenium Ring was doing its teleporty thing to Ryou. Bakura had come back."
"The evil Bakura?" asked Tristan.
Ryou nodded. "He warned me not to give Melvin that hug. He said to get away if I valued my life." Ryou sniffed and the tears started falling again. "I took it the wrong way. I thought he was threatening me again and that he just didn't want me to have my way. I pushed him away from me." He cried more. "Then I gave Melvin a hug."
"We all know what comes next," Marik continued. "He stabbed Ryou in the back. With the Millenium Rod." As he said that, he closed his eyes and held it up. He separated the bottom half and revealed the hidden blade. It was bloodstained as well.
Everyone gasped. "Then how is he still alive?" Joey asked.
Marik sheathed it again. "Because Bakura took over again," Ryou explained. "He took control and locked me in my soul room. I was trapped just like Marik was, but with less of a view." He had to remember to ask Yugi about the whole key thing later. "Like with you and the your Yami, Yugi, Bakura is taller than me. So Melvin missed."
"I was still watching at this point," Marik noted. This was the part that only he knew. "What happened was that Bakura pretended to be in more pain than he actually was. Melvin lunged at him again. He punched Melvin in the face..." he pointed to his face as he said this, "and escaped. He grabbed the Rod and scratched his leg deep." This time, he rolled up his pant leg and revealed the scar that the Rod had left.
Everyone gasped again.
He rolled his pant leg down and continued. "Then Bakura dropped it. While Melvin was going to get it, he took off the Millenium Ring and made those pointy things stand up straight." He pointed over Ryou to the Ring that was next to him, the points still stained with his dried blood.
Ryou shuddered at the thought of the five prongs that he had experienced the sharpness of for himself at one time.
"When Melvin tried to hit him again, he dodged again and then scratched Melvin's- well my back with them." He didn't exactly feel like showing anyone here those any time soon. But they were there. However, those particular marks had almost completely faded by now. "Then they just stood there, facing each other. They began talking about defeating the other and dying and stuff. I knew that one of them was going to die."
Despite having no say in the story at this point, Ryou spoke up again. "I'm not sure how I would know this, but I think that this is the point where I was starting to calm down and consider breaking my way out of my soul room."
"What do you mean 'breaking out of your soul room'?" Yugi asked. "How did he keep you there.?"
"He locked the door like he usually did," Ryou responded plainly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"He locked the door?" Yugi began asking lots of questions. "How? Is that even possible? Where would he get such a key to even do that? Is that a thing that Yamis can do? Can you do the same to him?"
"Yugi, calm down."
Oh yes, he was going to ask the Pharaoh about that later.
And since it seemed that Yugi didn't know anything about it either, Ryou was going to do the same.
"Are you two done?" Marik asked annoyed.
"Yes, we are," Ryou replied.
"Good. Now anyway," his face went serious again. "By that time, there was blood all over the floor and on some nearby furniture and stuff. It was a total mess. Melvin and Bakura started talking about finishing off. Melvin suggested they fight with the Millenium items again, but magically. I saw that part the clearest." Marik's face started growing sadder with every word. "Finally, it seemed like Bakura was loosing. The stress of it all and maybe his worry for me and Ryou was probably overwhelming. And the hole in his back. Yeah, that probably helped too. He lost. And the yellow squiggly lines of death appeared." Marik started crying. "It was like what happened with my father all over again. Melvin was going to kill Bakura, and Ryou's body in the process, the same way he killed my father. An asshole of a father, but still. He even said... He said... 'Say hello to my father for me...' and then he st- He..." Marik didn't finish the sentence. Like what had happened that day, he totally zoned out when he came to the part of Bakura's death.
Because it seemed like Marik was done talking and because it was almost time anyway, Ryou took over speaking for him. He wiped away his tears with his hand and put on a strong, but totally fake, face. He put his arms around Marik and gave him a side-hug-squeeze. "He stabbed Bakura. Right in the heart."
Everyone gasped again.
"So that's why the Ring is empty!" Yugi exclaimed to the Pharaoh.
"Yes, which means that the other Bakura must not have survived."
"Oh no!" Tea exclaimed. "Then how did you-?"
"Again, he saved me. He used his powers to cover my heart with his soul. The Rod's blade stabbed right though my chest, into Bakura's soul, didn't even touch my heart, and right out the other side."
Yugi gasped. He remembered what Ryou had said to them months ago. "Not too funny please. I'm kind of having... Chest problems right now." So that's where he had been injured. Almost right through the heart!
"Ouch," Tristan said. "That must've been gruesome."
It was Joey's turn to smack Tristan. "Shut up and let him finish!"
"It was," Ryou agreed with Tristan. "Somehow, he had managed to completely heal the first stab wound. The one in my back. At this point in time, I believe I had successfully broken out of my soul room. I-I looked around and saw..." He decided to delay telling that one fact for a few seconds more. "... note on the floor. I picked it up and read it."
Ryou then unwrapped his arms from around Marik and stood up. Like Marik had done a while ago, he headed over to the box and took something out of it. He walked back over to everyone else and sat back down in his original position. He handed the object he had taken to the person closest to him besides Marik, Yugi.
Yugi took the Change of Heart card. "This was outside the door?" he asked confusedly.
Ryou shook his head and rewraped his arms around Marik. "Turn it over," he instructed. "The note is taped there. Somehow, it materialized in my physical pocket when I regained control of my body."
Yugi turned the card over and read the note aloud. "It says, 'In your pocket. Not metal, but Shadow. Use it. Sorry. Bye.' What does all that mean?"
"It means..." His eyes teared up again. "Before I picked it up, I was looking for his soul room so I could maybe steal the key he used to 'lock' my door. But I couldn't see the door anywhere. It was gone. Forever. I didn't realize this yet and I simply tried to regain control. When I did, the pain knocked me out for a minute. When I came to, Melvin was there. He began mocking me about how Bakura was gone and how he had saved me but I was going to die from blood loss anyway. That was when I figured out what had happened, realized my Yami's true intentions earlier, deciphered the note, and decided to get revenge."
"So what did the rest of the note mean?" Yugi asked.
"It was referring to this..." Ryou moved a hand to his back pocket, where he still kept Bakura's pocket knife. He held it out for the others to see before putting it back in his pocket. "Bakura didn't know that I knew this, but I had always known that he always made sure it was on our body at all times. In his last few moments, he had turned the metal of the knife into Shadow energy. Not the kind that sends you to the Shadow Realm, but the kind that simply doesn't hurt physical bodies. The intention was that I use it against Melvin. Marik and Bakura were still friends, so Bakura didn't want to hurt Marik's body with it. Just Melvin."
At those words, Marik sobbed and shook a bit. Ryou gave him another squeeze.
Ryou's face went serious and dark. So did his voice. "I pushed through all the pain and stood up to face him. He knew of my friendship with Marik, so he assumed I wouldn't dare try anything on him that might kill Marik's body. He was right, but I wasn't going to leave a scratch. I lunged at him with the knife and 'stabbed' him in the heart. What he had done to my Yami, I did to him. I saw his face go blank and he fell." Ryou's face lost its serious and dark look. "Then I fell too, from all the pain and exhaustion."
Again, similar to what had happened that same day, Marik zoned back in at the part where Melvin was killed by Ryou. He found his voice, and it wasn't as cracked or shaky as everyone expected it to be. "That was when I felt the darkness loosen. The darkness in my mind that my Yami put there to hold me in. It was still there, because it was my darkness anyway, but it wasn't as restricting as before. I pushed through it and regained control of my body."
Now that the story of the actual battle had finished being told, Ryou and Marik sat up a little straighter. They removed their arms. Their faces were tear-streaked and their hearts somehow felt a little bit lighter now.
Marik continued with the aftermath. "After that, we saw each other and realized what had happened. We, um, cried a bit after we realized that Bakura was gone for good. I was able to get up and call the hospital to get us."
"We were both in very bad shape. He had more injuries than I did, but mine was more serious, so it was kind of even."
"They came and got us within a few minutes, and we were taken away."
Everyone in the room was totally silent. They all averted their gazes from one another.
Tristan finally spoke up. "Marik, I understand why this was hard on you: because Bakura was your friend. But why are you sad about it, Ryou? Wasn't he evil? Didn't he hurt you and stuff like that? Why are you so upset about him being gone when all he did was cause you trouble?"
Tea looked at him in shock. "Tristan!"
"I'm just asking."
"No, Tea. Tristan makes sense. I still wonder that myself today. And the answer to that is this." Ryou smiled faintly. "Yes, he did hurt me and cause me a lot of pain. He tortured me sometimes and was always trying to control me. But he was a part of me. My better half. My Yami." Yugi smiled understandingly. "He was my stronger side. And he made me stronger. I had something to fight against. Fighting the darkness had taught me to feel more powerful, in it and despite it. That is why I miss him. And even though he didn't really care about me and was only protecting me because he needed my body to exist, it still counts. And even so, why would he protect the body he needs to survive by letting get himself die? For me, that's why. And I appreciate that. I have forgiven him."
Everyone stared at Ryou, awed by his little speech. It was very touching.
But that's not the reason why Marik began to cry again.
"What's wrong, Marik?" Ryou asked him.
Marik sniffed. "Ryou, everyone. You probably never knew or suspected this about me... But I never cried only for Bakura. I also cried for..." He hesitated. "I felt the same about my Yami as well. I thought the same things. Melvin made life hell for me. He killed my father, but I hated him anyway. He gave me the strength to break free. He did it all for me. I hated the way he went about doing things, with the stabbing and the torturing and the Shadow Games and all. And even though I hated him and his methods, he taught me a lesson. To never be how he was and how to be strong. He never actually tried to hurt me or anything." Marik remembered what he had said to him on the morning of that day. 'Let me. I'll take the memories for you. Let me take the pain.' Melvin had always been strong enough to handle it. Marik had not. "But believe me, everything else about him was horrible. He never looked up the word 'hug' in the friggin dictionary. And he ruined one of my videos. I'm glad he's gone and can't hurt anyone anymore, but that doesn't mean I can't be thankful."
Again, everyone was silent. Then Ryou broke it with a light and quiet laugh. "Haha, my speech was nicer than yooouuuurs!" He playfully pushed Marik.
Marik laughed as well. "Well mine made more sense! I at least still hated him a little bit. You forgave your Yami completely! That's just all wrong!"
"Oh shut up! My speech was still better. And longer. And the silence was longer."
"Because you broke mine!"
Everyone there smiled and laughed a bit now that the mood had lightened up.
But Tristan still had one more thing to sort out first.
"Hold on, you two. We're not done asking you questions yet."
They both frowned an looked at Tristan. Having a feeling that this was directed at him, Marik responded. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. How were you able to manipulate how much people asked and learned and looked into about the whole thing?"
Marik frowned more. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand. How was he going to explain this without getting everyone mad at him?
Marik decided to sit on the couch. He moved up and sat down. Ryou stayed where he was. Joey also moved on the couch. Tristan moved a chair over for him to sit on. Tea and Yugi moved outward so they could see everyone else.
"Like I said before, I had lied about the whole break-in thing. It was a fake story to hide what had actually happened. While me and Ryou were hospitalized, I made sure that my place was cleaned, a window was opened, and that people assumed it had just been a break-in. I made sure that the police weren't involved."
"How did you manage that while you were in the hospital the whole time?" Joey asked.
This is the part that Marik knew none of them would like. "I kinda sorta maybe possibly used the Millenium Rod. A lot. Several times."
"Say what?!" Tristan exclaimed. "You told us that you didn't use that mind control stuff anymore."
"Yeah, well apparently I lied. Get over it."
"So you contacted some people with the Rod and made them do and think stuff about the whole thing?" Yugi asked.
Marik nodded. "Yeah. I kinda still have some of my former Rare Hunters are still here. I used the Rod to talk to them."
The fact that he had used it at all was surprising enough. But one mystery seemed more important. "How did you get the Rod from where you were?" Joey asked.
"Tea, you've been awfully quiet about this stuff," Yugi noted.
Marik sighed in relief and annoyance. They had all taken the "I used the Millenium Rod" thing well enough, but the next part they might not be so okay with. "Erm... Um... Okay now this is the bad part. Tea, do you remember anything weird that happened the day before you visited us?"
"Um, no," Tea replied. "I don't remember. Why?"
"I do!" Yugi said. "You just randomly left for an hour because you were late for something." He gasped. "Wait, Marik are you saying-"
"Yes. I took control of Tea again for an hour, got her to come here to clean up and open a window, and bring the Millenium Rod to me."
Tea became outraged. "Say WHAT?!" she cried. "Why would you do that?! You said you would never do that ever again! You said you'd left my body for good!" She was furious and disgusted with Marik for using his connection with her to make her do that stuff. "I think I feel sick." She slid a foot away from Marik.
"So that's how Tea knew the room number," Joey hypothesized. "'Cuz she had been there before."
"Or maybe I just understood the lady's accent. Unlike you."
"No, you definitely seemed like you knew where you were going," Yugi argued.
"Tea, I'm sorry for doing that. We were both sort of traumatized and I got desperate. I didn't want any questions being asked and I didn't want to have to explain anything. I also used the Rod to deal with the medical bills. But it was probably a stupid idea and I really shouldn't have done it. Sorry."
"Hmph." Tea was still pissed, but she would end up forgiving Marik in a day or two.
"Well I thought it was smart plan," Ryou said. "Bakura would've been impressed that you still had the schemer in you."
"Thanks, Ryou."
"Speaking of which," Ryou said irritatedly, "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Petting me. Stop it."
For the past minute of two, Marik had absent-mindedly been petting Ryou on the head with the hand that hung over the edge of the couch. He hadn't even realized it.
Now that he did, he didn't want to stop.
"Stop it now."
"No! Your hair is fluffy. Not as fluffy as his, but still."
"I don't care. He may be gone now, but he left something behind."
"What's that?"
"The natural reflex to bite your hand if you don't stop petting me within the next ten seconds."
Marik stopped moving his hand. Bakura had said the same thing once. And he hadn't been joking about biting Marik. Marik had actually been bitten three separate times before he learned his lesson. He looked at Ryou seriously, his mouth in a tight line. Then he smartly removed his hand from on top of Ryou's head.
Ryou turned around and smirked at Marik. "Wise choice. Thank you."
Marik still stared at him seriously. "You know you're pretty scary when you're angry."
Ryou smiled adorably. "I know, right?" He looked at the others. "Works every time."
Everyone laughed.
The mood had grown a lot lighter in the past few minutes.
Ryou and Marik felt like they could finally speak of Bakura without feeling sad all the time. Ryou stood up ad put the card back in the box. Then he picked up the Millenium Ring and took it to the kitchen. He washed the points of it and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the dried blood came off easily. He then put it around his neck for the first time in months.
Marik then stood up and did the same with the Millenium Rod. Again, the blood came off surprisingly easily for having been dried for months.
They both sat back down with the others.
Yugi spoke again. "Well I'm glad that you got all that out. And not to offend you, but I'm kind of glad those two are gone. They were evil, after all."
"Yeah, but he was an okay friend," Marik said.
"Sorry that we brought that on," Joey apologized. After all, he was the one who brought the box out.
"No worries," Ryou reassured him. "Its alright. You needed to hear that and we needed to get it out. Oh and Yugi, you and me are going to have a little chat with a certain someone later, right?"
"We sure are," Yugi agreed. In his mind, he gave the Pharaoh a stern look that said 'You and me are going to have a talk later.'
Everyone sighed.
Tristan looked at the clock. "Hey guys, it's been an hour already," he informed them. "Should we go to Yugi's place now?"
Everyone agreed. Marik and Ryou started cleaning up and the others got ready to go. Joey stole a chocolate bar from where he had seen Marik take the other one earlier.
Marik moved the box to his room. Him and Ryou each took their cards and put it in their pockets.
Ryou put the Change of Heart card, note still taped to it, in the same pocket as the pocket knife.
They both followed their four friends put the door, hearts lightened and minds at ease.
Tea stopped and turned around, making sure that Marik noticed.
She removed the spare key from Marik's hiding place and waved it in front of his face.
"See, I even know where this is."
Marik laughed nervously and walked faster.
Yeah, that was long. But again, I didn't have the heart to make it into chapters. But if after reading you feel that I should've, by all means tell me.
R&R
I hope my Marik wasn't too OOC. I'm not really good with writing about the 'nice-and-friendly-with-Yugi' Marik as opposed to the eviller Marik or the abridged Marik. Let me know how I did.
A little thing I'd like to share. While typing this on my iPod, I accidentally his some random letters and this is what happened. It was totally random. Or was it? ('o')? "Everyone except Tea and Mariku p raised their hands." The extra letters were the u and the p. Coincidence or fate? You decide!
Anyway.
Thanks for reading!
BYEEEEEEEEEEEE~!