Author's Note: It's out! After like a month! Yay!
Sorry about the wait. ^^; You know, did a little bit of this, little bit of that… Don't kill me! *hides under table*
But this chapter is pretty long, so I like to think it'll make up for it. Yes? No? Maybe so? You decide. :3
Read.
Chapter 3
Marik shuffled through the hallways, half asleep as she always was when she was within a hundred yard radius of school. She didn't understand what it was, but the education system seemed to be covered in a veil of sleep powder that made everyone prone to falling asleep right there in the middle of class.
But today was different.
Disaster struck everywhere as teachers and students alike discovered that the school had been internally toyed with, the outside untouched but the inside quite the opposite. Traps and practical jokes had been set up everywhere. Two announcements had already penetrated the halls, warning the "hooligans" to confess their crimes.
Only one "hooligan" was present, though. Bakura didn't go to school. He wouldn't be able to handle the amount of emotion that everyone in the school was feeling all at once- especially on that day. The vibe of the school was torn between fear for repetition of another serious school assembly (which would be the third that year) and ecstatic delight that they had the impish pranks to distract themselves from another normal, tedious day of school.
But Marik didn't feel either of these emotions. If anything, she felt… sad. Melancholy, if you will. Why, she'd never guess.
"Marik!"
Oh, joy, someone was calling over to her as she entered the cafeteria for lunch period. She really didn't want to respond, perhaps pretend she didn't hear them, but she knew the voice and sighed, preparing herself to go and sit with them.
Yugi waved Marik over happily, the little child-sized boy shaking with excitement as he did. Yami, his second half, did the same, but with less enthusiasm, the wave being weak and inept.
"Marik, have you heard about all the stuff going on around school?" Yugi inquired, leaning forward against the lunch table enthusiastically.
"Uh… Yeah." Marik took a seat at the far end of the table, folding her arms and resting her chin on them.
"What's wrong, Marik?" Tea inquired, poking the Egyptian.
"Nothing," Marik mumbled before yawning and burying herself deeper into her arms.
"Tea's right…" Duke also poked Marik. (What was she? Un-poke-able?) "… You don't look so good."
"How can you tell?" Marik challenged, the edge on her voice lost from the transition from the table to friends who were circling her.
"Well-" Tea stood up and wrapped her arms around Marik's waist, pulling her up into a standing position. "-You look pale."
"I never look pale," Marik argued, shaking Tea off of her.
"You do, too," Joey commented. "Maybe you're sick."
"'Ishtar's don't get sick. Ishtar's get mild times of weakness they overpower with strength.'" Marik took her quote directly from someone, though her friends didn't know that.
"Marik-" A pale hand reached out to her. "-Let me feel your forehead…"
It was Ryou, being as helpful and compassionate as ever.
But, as Marik glanced up at the British boy she'd known since kindergarten, something shifted in her.
Marik abruptly stood up, slapping Ryou's hand away from her. She accused stridently, "You look like him!"
Ryou pulled back, astonished. He questioned quietly, "I look like who?"
"Like him!" Marik hissed, "You look like him!"
Ryou blinked, his wide, brown eyes adjusting to this. "What are you talking about, Marik?"
All Marik could see was Bakura. Her childhood friend- he looked exactly like Bakura. Marik didn't know why this made her angry, but it did, nonetheless. Her face was tinted with pink, and her teeth were grinding with rage.
"I think…" Tea took Marik's hand. "… I think Marik's sick. I'm going to take her to the nurse's office. Come on, Marik."
Marik wisely fell silent as Tea guided her out of the cafeteria, glancing back at Ryou whose expression seemed close to heartbroken. Suddenly what she had said washed over her all in one graceful stroke, and her face turned bright red. As the girls disappeared out the doors, Marik mouthed, "Sorry" to Ryou, but she was sure he hated her now. Oh, how could this day get any worse?
-transition-
It got worse.
"It appears you do have a fever, Miss Ishtar," the nurse reported, "I'm afraid you'll have to go home."
Marik bit her lower lip. I can't. I can't go home. She swallowed and stood up, ready to lie her way out of this.
"Why don't you call your parents and have them come pick you up?" the woman suggested, scribbling some nonsense down on a clipboard.
"That's not necessary. I'm-" Marik was going to say that she was fine, but that'd mean she'd have to face Ryou again during her afternoon classes. And she just couldn't do that. "- Going to walk home. My house is just a few blocks away." It was a lie; where she lived was all the way across town.
"Very well," the nurse agreed. If it had been any other student, she would have pressured them into calling their parents, but Marik was exceptionally smart and had never received a bad mark in her life. So, the woman let her go.
"Thanks," Marik mumbled, walking out of the nurse's office. The office ladies gave her a confused look as she walked out, but Marik forged no explanations for their curiosity. Let them wonder. Let them gossip. I'm sure by tomorrow the entire school will have heard something of my coming here, and it'll be even worse than it actually is just to indulge the school in something out of the norm.
Marik growled lightly to herself as she began walking down the street. But she didn't get ten feet away from the school before her name pierced the crisp air.
"Mariiiiiiiiiik!"
Damn it.
"Where are you going?"
At least he didn't draw that out…
Marik spun around and answered with a light but obviously fake smile, "Out."
Melvin finally stopped in front of her, his expression inquisitive. He questioned angrily which threw Marik off, "What the hell? You know Ishizu-"
"Yes, yes, Ishizu," Marik snapped. She may have been surprised at this, but all feeling except annoyance had vanished into the shadows at her sister's name. "She won't know. I'll just hang around downtown and somehow hitch a ride home. It'll be okay."
Melvin gave her a hard look, to which Marik gave a weak smile. "I hate you," he stated. "I hate you for always getting your stupid way."
Marik's smile quickly morphed into an evil smirk. She gibed him with a touchy subject: "I do, don't I? Well, if it's such a big concern to you, why don't you tell Ishizu about it? I'm sure she won't mind-"
"Mention that one more time and your smile will be halfway across the road." He wasn't kidding. The twins were known for having rough fights.
Marik's smirk only grew and she turned to take her leave, mumbling, "Later then." She felt Melvin wanting to retort this behind her, but he gave up with a groan and headed back into the school.
-transition-
For all her talk, Marik had never been in downtown Domino City. Ever. For reasons kept a secret, she was always forced to stay within a watching eye's distance. But, now, she was by herself, in the town, with two hours to kill.
Marik quickly realized she hated window shopping. It was almost unfair how they put the nicest and of course priciest things on display just to lure customers in. It made her sick to her stomach. Of course, she never actually been inside one of the stores, let alone purchased anything from them, but it still fueled her already blazing fire.
She also learned she despised frozen yogurt. It was just a cheap imitation of ice cream for frigg's sake! That didn't stop her from finishing the rest of it, though…
Ah, finally, something she actually enjoyed! Dogs. As Marik passed a dog park, several of them galloped up to her without any warning and jumped up on her, in essence, knocking her over onto the grass. They then proceeded to lick most of the kohl off up face, if not her face itself. She laughed as they did so, trying to push them off to no avail.
"I'm so sorry about that," one woman said, trying to get her dog to heel.
"It- it's okay!" Marik stumbled through hurriedly as another dog pounced on her face.
"No, you're very kind, but some people don't like dogs, so it's disgraceful to have them jump up on you like that," the lady insisted, pulling the rest of the pack off Marik.
"Who could not like dogs?" Marik wondered aloud, sitting up as the dogs had finally given her space to breathe.
The civilian shrugged and mumbled, "I have no idea, but some do." She herded the dogs away, giving a wave.
Marik was sad to see them go. It was the only thing that had distracted her from her unpleasantness, so she decided to stay at the dog park a little longer…
A little longer turned into a whole lot longer, because soon it was past four, which meant school had ended nearly a half hour before. And this also meant that Marik had to find a way home.
It was too far a walk, so that option was out. A bus seemed more suitable, but Marik soon realized she had spent all her extra change on frozen yogurt. Damn overpriced dairy treat imitation… That ruled out taxis and trains as well. So, basically, she was out of options. Well, now that she thought about it, it was only a twenty mile walk… Am I crazy? It'll take a week to get there! If I run, Marik scolded herself. But the options were more than limited, so she began to hike north and prayed someone would come rescue her.
And, then, an angel appeared.
"Marik!"
Marik turned around, seeing that someone was running towards her. As he approached, Marik realize it was Ryou. She had the sudden urge to bolt, seeing as lunchtime had been so… awkward. But her feet were tired from walking and her mind kept screaming, "Maybe he'll give me a ride! Don't lose the opportunity, Marik!"
Ryou caught up to her, grasped her shoulders, and panted as he stared down at the sidewalk for what seemed an innumerable amount of time. At last, he questioned weakly, "How- how long have you been wandering around her with- without someone?"
"Uh, I don't know, maybe an hour?" Marik guessed, not seeing the big deal.
Ryou wiped his forehead with his forearm and mumbled, "Oh, good. Melvin would have killed me if it was any longer."
Color grew behind Marik's tan as she questioned furiously, "What? Why? Did Melvin threaten you?"
Ryou laughed nervously and muttered, "Maybe a little…"
"How dare he!" Marik held up her fist. "I swear, I'm gonna-"
"Marik, please-" Ryou placed his hand over Marik's and forced her hand to return to her side. "- I didn't want to cause more trouble. In fact, that's why I searched for you."
"Yeah, why did you do that?" Marik inquired, her eyebrows knitting themselves together.
Ryou laughed again, but it seemed forced. He elaborated, "When I saw Melvin in the halls after lunch, I asked him if you went home. He mumbled something about your stubbornness and then explained that you chose to go downtown instead of go home. I was worried about you, so I offered to find you and give you a ride home after school. He agreed but only after he made me swear on my life that I return you home before dinner time." Ryou sighed with relief, obviously thankful he'd found Marik in time.
Marik blinked. "I still wanna kill him."
Ryou laughed, genuinely this time, and motioned Marik to follow him back to his car. She did so, slightly reluctant. She wanted more than anything to get off her sore feet, but she kept thinking it'd be awkward the whole way back… Eventually, she sunk into the shot gun seat and prayed things wouldn't be as bad as she feared.
-transition-
Ryou's car was very nice. It was basic and yet modern, having the best of both worlds. Marik wished she could enjoy this lazy car ride home, but the silence between the two teens was suffocating her.
"Um… So, you were worried about me?" Marik questioned before what she asked registered in her mind.
Ryou blushed crimson and muttered, "Of course. You're my friend…"
"And you're my friend," Marik assured, then blurted out, "And, as that, I'm so sorry I accused you of being him at lunch today."
"Yeah, I'm still confused by that…" Ryou gave a strange smile as he stared at the road ahead. "So, who's this him of which you speak?"
Marik's eyes widened frightendly as she tried to conjure up an excuse. "He's… um… my ex." Of all the things! she cried inside her head.
Ryou's weird smile became sad. "Oh, I'm sorry I brought up bad memories…"
"It's not your fault!" Marik protested, "You can't help how you look! I was just being irrational about it." She added to the lie, "I've known you forever, so it must seem weird that this came out of the blue, huh? Well the reason is, when you tried to feel my forehead to see if I was sick, you just reminded me of him. And you really do look like him. That's all."
Ryou gave this a minute to absorb before saying, "Oh. Well, then I guess everything's normal then, huh?"
The polar opposite really… "Yeah, of course."
"I make a left here, right, Marik?" Ryou inquired, glancing at the street signs.
"That's right," Marik promised, though she had little to no clue how to get back to where she lived. Melvin always drove, and she wasn't much for details, so her navigation skills weren't the best. The Egyptian shifted in her seat and transitioned, "So, Melvin seemed kind of worried about me… That's weird."
"Is it?" Ryou's eyebrows furrowed as he took the left turn. "I thought it was the sibling's job to be worried about you."
"If that's so, Melvin is horrible at it," Marik teased, though Ryou stayed silent. "Something wrong?"
"Just thinking," the albino excused, though the pretext didn't satisfy Marik.
"Ryou-"
"I had a brother who took really good care of me," Ryou randomly announced, his expression appearing fatigued.
"Ryou, I-"
"He and my sister both died in the same accident."
Marik tried to swallow her pride at being interrupted twice and asked softly, "What was his name?"
Ryou gritted his teeth but finally revealed-
"Bakura."
Marik's eyes widened to unbelievable length, her lavender irises shaking. No… His Bakura can't be the Bakura… can it? There's just no way! I know they look alike and everything but- No! It's not true! Ryou said his brother died in the same accident as his sister! Which legitimizes it fully! Yes, it's just some weird coincidence!
"Marik, are you all right?" Ryou placed a hand on her leg. "You're shaking. I hope what I said didn't upset you. It used to upset me, but I've grown kind of immune to it, you know?"
"Yeah…" Marik whispered faintly, her mind still moving at a million miles an hour.
Ryou turned into a forest covered area, looking out the windows curiously. "Huh… Melvin said this is where you lived… But I don't see any houses nearby…"
Marik pushed her thoughts away temporarily and lied, "This is the right place. My house is just down the road, but you can't get there by car. I'll have to walk the last few minutes."
"Are you sure?" Ryou adjusted his mirror. "Because behind us is a trail that leads in the direction, and I'm sure I can-"
"No, no, I'm fine," Marik insisted, taking her seatbelt off and opening the passenger door. She slipped out and said a quick thank you before shutting the door and beginning to head down the road to where she told Ryou her house was located. Marik walked until she heard Ryou's car back up over the gravel and drive away. She then made an immediate U-turn and headed the opposite direction.
About a minute or so later, Marik found the entrance to where she lived and opened the cellar-like doors to let in the evening light. A flight of stairs met her view, and she slowly ascended down them.
As she did, Marik thought, I've got to ask Bakura about that. Of course, I'm positive there's no connection, but you can never be too careful, right? Right. Why am I answering myself…? She shook her head to rid her thoughts as she reached the end of the staircase, finding herself in front of her family's front door. Marik opened it and called in, "Hello? Melvin?"
But Melvin wasn't the one who answered.
Ishizu smiled through the darkness. "Hello, Marik. How was school?"
Author's Note: Ah-ha! Cliffhanger! And not the last! There will be plenty more to come; trust me… *evil smirk*
It was fun to write, but I'm glad it's over. It's mostly just setting up the plot…
Bakura: If it's setting up the plot, why the hell did I not even get one line this chapter? I'm one of the main characters in this fanfic!
Me: Shut up, Kitty!
*YGOTAS REFERENCE* (Like it wasn't obvious enough. XD)
Review time, children! Gather around the computer and send me a delightful tid-bit of your lovely thoughts please. :3