Malik begrudgingly parted with a pair of pants and a shirt to dress him, and he felt no better accepting the clothing. He was quickly growing stifled and annoyed by the three; but since he'd flipped over Malik's bed, they decided he wasn't allowed to be left to his own devices. The silence was thick enough in the room that as he pulled the shirt over his head, he could hear a small huff of breath from Malik as he turned to dress.

"You have no scars. Of course you have no scars." Malik said in a bitter tone, crossing his arms and turning away.

He turned his head to look at Malik, a smirk tugging his lips. "You can always change that."

Malik made an alarmed sound, a brief look of horror crossing his face before he promptly left the room; so much for that bit of entertainment.

He tugged the shirt over his body, finding that the shirt did not fully cover him as much as he'd like. He leered down at the shirt; he hated being exposed like this, but could only curse Malik for his choice of clothing. He was about to leave the room but caught his reflection in Malik's mirror. A snarl slowly grew on his face, realizing just how similar his own body, his face was to his weaker self. The clothes only made the similarities blinding to him.

He turned his head at the sound of the door opening again and stepped back seeing it was Malik's servant Rishid, the name had only then came back to him. Rishid did not move closer when noticing his defensive stance. "If you are finished, Parasite, we need to discuss—"

"You are to call me Darkness!" He hissed; glaring now as his hands balled into fists.

"No one is calling you Darkness, that's not a proper name."

"Neither is parasite, and yet you use it like it is mine!"

"That's enough, both of you," The woman's voice called from behind the door. He could feel her eyes on him as Rishid stepped aside to let her inside the room. "We've decided your name will be Karim legally, until you can make a proper choice."

He leered suspiciously at Malik's sister, disliking that even she was ordering him around. "And why should I accept this? You were the one to ask me what I want to be named!"

"Use that one as a nickname then, Darkness," Malik was using an overly sweet voice from the safety of the hallway, as if mocking the name he picked, "But your real name will be Karim Ishtar from now on. Now get out of my room."

The two siblings left the room, leaving the door open to let him walk out on his own.

He didn't like the name Karim and he wanted to be as far removed from the Ishtar name as possible. He had no choice but to choose a new name, and felt frustrated that the only names he knew were either from the Ishtar clan or the names of people he controlled through the Millennium Rod.

And nothing he could think of suited his fancy, so Karim begrudgingly accepted his new name.

Karim threw his reflection a final glare before gathering enough will to leave the room. He stepped into the now empty hallway and released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. A small part of him still felt that the moment he left the room, the illusion would dissolve and he'd be facing shadows again. He just stood in front of Malik's room now, staring at the floor as if expecting it to dissolve at any moment.

He looked up once he was sure nothing was changing to look at his surroundings. There was a door on either side of him, as well as one on the far right; the sound of Malik speaking with one of the siblings in a quiet voice carried through the entryway at the far left. His legs felt heavy as he approached the entryway, unsure where else to go now that he had left Malik's room.

Malik and Rishid were sitting at a table, facing away from Karim and both staring at a laptop. He wasn't sure if they even heard him walk in and just stood at the entryway, not wanting to be noticed. He thought about looking in another room to stay away from the family, or possibly just finding an exit so he can leave the three behind entirely. He had been so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice Malik's sister approach him until she held something out to him, causing him to step back in alarm. He scowled when he realized how easily she caught him off guard.

A hint of fear shown in the woman's eyes from his reaction, and that was enough to satisfy him.

"It's ice," she said, glancing where his stomach showed, "for your bruise, doesn't it hurt?"

Bruise?

Karim looked down at himself, leering at the exposed bit of skin when he realized it showed the darkening bruise on his side. He attempted to tug the shirt down again, and felt annoyed when it just sprung back into place. The bruise itself did hurt now that he'd noticed it, but he wanted that pain to remind him he was living. "I don't need anything."

He noticed Malik glancing his way, only to divert his attention back to the laptop again. Karim crossed his arms, fully turning to face Malik. He barely acknowledged Rishid staring him down. "Why did you bring me back?"

Malik seemed to freeze at the question, but still didn't turn to look at Karim. "I…did not mean to." Malik replied, his voice sounding as if he was trying to keep his emotions hidden.

"That was obvious the moment I could hear you." Karim growled; leering at Malik's back.

"Then there's nothing else to say."

"Other than what you could have possibly have wanted out of the Shadow Realm that made bringing me out of it a mistake."

It seemed as if the other two siblings wanted the same answers, because neither spoke up in Malik's defense or tried to divert his questioning. However, Malik let the silence draw out unbearably long. Karim couldn't see Malik's expression, but could tell Rishid had decided there would be no answers when his attention turned back to Karim.

"You're staying in the guest room, it's behind you."

Karim looked behind him at the door, suddenly unnerved by what could possibly be behind it. He turned his head to glare at Rishid, unconsciously hugging his arms closer to his chest. "You can't just lock me away in a room to pretend I don't exist."

"Be glad we gave you a room at all!" Malik snapped, turning to face Karim fully this time, "You shouldn't even be here!"

"Maybe a couple more kicks would have solved that problem." Karim sneered, gesturing to his side.

Malik's sister just shook her head and pressed the ice pack in her hand against Karim's side, making him hiss from the cold. "No matter the circumstances, Karim is here now. And we're not pretending you don't exist either, it's a room for yourself. You'll need one if you're staying."

Karim grabbed the ice pack from his side, shooting the woman a glare. "Did I say I wanted to stay here? How do you know I'm not planning your demise as you sleep?"

"Are you?"

The woman gave Karim with a guarded look; both Malik and Rishid glaring at him as if daring him to respond. It was clear no one in the room trusted him, but he felt more out of place realizing it hadn't even been a thought until now. He wanted to find a weapon to keep Malik from trying to attack him again, but he was focused more on surviving than anything else.

He turned away from the three and went into his assigned room, deciding he'd rather face what's behind that door over talk about his thoughts.