A/N – Some people have commented on the OC, the dialogue and the pace of the story. I just want to clear up that this is a COMMISSION for a user on DeviantArt. I am writing this SOLELY based on what she has requested – the events, the characters and also how they should act. It is only going to be seven chapters, hence why a lot of "action" is going on. I would appreciate it if you ONLY comment on my WRITING SKILLS, and not the characters themselves or whether you like what's happening or not, as such things should not be taken up with me – I am merely writing someone else's idea. Thank you.

…..

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"W-What's so funny?"

Marik roared with laughter, while Aura stood her ground; Odion made sure to keep his distance in the background.

"How entertaining!" he cried, "You want to duel me?"

"What's entertaining about that?" Aura pouted, annoyed already by that tiresome laugh of his.

"You simply don't stand a chance!" he smirked, "And you think by defeating me, you can win your freedom?"

"If you're so confident, you should have no trouble beating me." Aura countered; she held up the duel disk Odion had retrieved for her, and the deck she'd been holding on to for Battle City. She was actually itching to duel, considering he'd taken away her chance to enter the tournament.

Marik raised an eyebrow, still laughing; he seemed to not take her seriously.

This made her blush, and she raised her voice, "I see – s-so you're just all talk, after all! Do you need your rare hunters to duel for you? Is that it?"

Marik's face lit up, and his smirk only grew wider.

"Hmph… if you insist on a duel, my dear, then I shall oblige. Let's see if you can amuse me for more than five minutes."

…..

The duel commenced.

At Marik's command, Odion had cleared a room for them to allow space for the game.

It had barely begun, and Aura was off to a sure start.

She'd started by playing her Card Destruction, and pulled a Monster Reborn in the first turn; she'd ended up with Dark Magician Girl, and Silent Magician both on the field. Her offense stood proudly, as Marik frowned at her luck.

"So… you use dark-type monsters as well?"

"Mostly." Aura grinned, getting carried away with confidence, although she had yet to see what Marik had up his sleeve.

The Egyptian boy chuckled, drawing his next card, "You've been fortunate so far, but I'm afraid your luck won't last!"

He threw a card down onto his duel disk – Snatch Steal. Aura gaped.

"Aww no!"

"Hahaha!"

His laugh was so absurd – it couldn't have been genuine, surely. Aura screwed up her face, as she was forced to hand over control of her Dark Magician Girl to Marik.

"Next…" he smirked thoughtfully at the cards in his hand, "I'll place two cards face down… and also summon my Goblin Attack Force."

Aura rolled her eyes – now she had two enemy monsters to deal with. As soon as Marik were to call an attack, her Silent Magician would be toast.

"It's not too late to give up, Aura."

"Save it!" she snapped, "It's not over till it's over!"

…..

Her luck had evidently deteriorated. Marik had gained the upper hand so quickly.

Aura had been able to counter him with a few surprise traps and spells, but Marik seemed to keep coming out on top.

"Had enough yet, my dear?"

Aura rolled her eyes, drawing her next card. His taunting was seriously starting to get on her nerves – the cocky jerk.

She looked upon her hand with despair; there wasn't much she could do now.

"Hurry up and make your move!"

"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!"

All the while Odion was watching cautiously from the sidelines. The both of them were so stubborn that the very air between them was full of fire and sparks. For once, he was quite relieved not to be involved.

Aura hid a secret grin, having come up with a plan, "I'll place this card face down… and I guess I'll end my turn."

"Fool!" Marik cackled, "You've left yourself wide open! Go, my Vampire Lord – attack her directly!"

"Haha!" Aura laughed, mentally cursing herself for sounding almost as dramatic as Marik, "You just walked right into that one! Activate Mirror Force!"

Marik's eyes widened – shocked, but with a hint of awe. Aura noticed this quickly and blushed a little; had she impressed him?

"Very good." He murmured, removing his army of monsters from the field, "Very good, indeed."

Aura couldn't help but giggle – it seemed she had jumped ahead yet again.

"Alright then…" she drew her next card, "Yes! Now I'll activate the Dark Magic Curtain, in order to bring out my Dark Magician!"

One of the most powerful monsters in her deck emerged with a flash – he looked similar to the signature card used by Yugi Muto, except he was draped in red, and had a slightly tanned complexion. Marik watched without saying a word; Aura thought this was odd, considering how vocal he had been up until then.

"Heh… looks like I got you!" she grinned from ear to ear, brimming with self-esteem, "Dark Magician, attack!"

A broad, vile sneer suddenly split across Marik's face, as he erupted into hysterics.

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't be prepared for this?" he cried, much to her dismay, "Sakuretsu Armor will take care of your pathetic magician!"

With a wretched cry, the Dark Magician dissolved away before their eyes. Aura grimaced.

"Okay, so now we're back to an empty field…"

"I'm not finished yet!"

"Right, of course…" she grumbled.

"I'll also chain my Ultimate Offering card. Life points are such a small price to pay, to bring about a far more powerful monster to annihilate you!"

Aura watched him with intrigue, as Marik sacrificed a hefty portion his life points to bring two additional monsters to his side. They didn't stay for long though, as he then offered them to bring forth a devastating 8-star creature, known as Despair from the Dark.

"Hahahaha! It's over for you! Attack!"

"Aww, crap…!"

The duel thereafter ended, in a sufferable defeat…
What was worse though, was the fact that Marik would not stop bragging afterwards.
Even Odion was disgruntled.

"I told you it was no use!"

Aura mumbled curses under her breath; she was convinced that Marik had just gotten lucky.

"How about one more?"

"I promised you one duel, and you got it." He smirked slyly, folding his arms in an arrogant manner, "But you realise… I would never have let you go had you won, anyway."

Aura's face glowed red, fraught with embarrassment, "W-What the hell? But you—"

Marik cackled that evil laugh, once again, "My dear, I don't recall ever agreeing to your terms."

Utterly defeated, Aura lowered her head and slapped her forehead stupidly, "… oh, dammit."

…..

"Master Marik, you summoned me?"

Later on in Marik's quarters, Odion appeared in the doorway with a bow.

"Yes…" his master spoke slowly, with his back to him, "I heard the rare hunters lost to Yugi and his friend, Kaiba… Is this true?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

Marik clenched his fist, so tightly that his knuckles were almost white.

"My ambition… it's so close, I can almost taste it."

He sneered, slamming his fist against the wall.

"I won't have my plans ruined by those meddlesome fools!"

Odion merely watched; stony faced as usual, he waited patiently for his next orders.

"The Battle City finals are beginning soon… I want you to hack into the KaibaCorp systems and enter places for the both of us. The time had come for us to take action ourselves. Don't fail me, Odion."

"I won't, sir."

"Oh, and Odion…" he spoke roughly, still without looking up, "…bring Aura here. I want to talk with her."

…..

It had been a little while since her duel with Marik. Aura had just taken a shower and freshened herself up; she was still a little sore about the loss, but luckily nothing else had really happened since then. Marik hadn't punished her or anything… in fact, he'd gone straight back to his room, seemingly with something on his mind.

Thus, she was inevitably surprised, when Odion arrived at her door.

"Master Marik has requested your presence."

She wasn't too happy about this – he was probably just going to gloat some more.

Reluctantly, she left the semi-security of her room and followed Odion quietly along the corridor. They ended up stopping at the furthest door.

"Master Marik is waiting." The servant said, beckoning towards the door.

Aura blushed slightly – was she expected to go in there alone? A swelling in the pit of her stomach was telling her that this may not be a good idea…

She barely had time to think about it; with a half-hearted push, Odion had coaxed her through the door and closed it behind her.
Great…

"Ah, you're here. Excellent."

But when she laid her eyes on Marik, she decided this was definitely a bad idea.

The Egyptian was lying on his bed, two hands behind his head, seemingly lost in thought; he was just staring at the ceiling and hadn't even turned to look at her yet. Her heart climbed swiftly into her throat, and she was helplessly flushed. She couldn't deny: he looked pretty sexy lying there in a casual tank top and black slacks. He'd been staring nowhere in particular, but now his eyes were totally fixed on her.

"What's with that look?"

"Oh… it's n-nothing…" Aura spluttered, shifting under his gaze.

He sat up slowly, and an unusual smile came to his face. Maybe it was just at that moment, but Aura thought that smile looked almost authentic; it kind of suited him. He merely motioned with his hand towards the bed – did he want her to sit down?

Her head in a tizzy, Aura shuffled over and sat down awkwardly on the edge of the bed. She didn't dare lift her gaze, as if scared he was going to hypnotise her or something. What was this all about?
Marik disregarded her uneasiness and began talking.

"I realise you haven't yet been informed of my plans… and seeing as you're going to be involved soon enough, I thought I should explain – to save any unnecessary questions later."

Aura glanced up at him, but immediately turned away. He was staring at her, without a falter. It felt unnerving.

"The Battle City finals are beginning soon." He said, "Yugi Muto will undoubtedly be there, and so Odion and I will be entering also."

Yugi? The Yugi Muto? What did Marik want with the King of Games?

"I've decided I don't trust my poor excuses for servants enough to leave you here, so you will be accompanying us."

"What? But why…?" Aura blinked; she hadn't been expecting something like this.

"That boy holds something I seek… that's all you need to know."

What could Marik want from Yugi? Thinking about it, Aura realised that she indeed knew nothing at all about Marik or his plans… for certain, it was something he didn't want to reveal, hence her strict imprisonment.

"Why… do you hate Yugi so much?"

Her innocent question came as quite a shock.

Marik found her looking up at him, peering cautiously with emerald green eyes. He was a little taken aback.

Eventually he sighed, leaning against the headboard behind him and once again gazing at the ceiling. Words seemed to be rolling out of his mouth, without really thinking about them.

"…I come from a family of tomb keepers in Egypt. For generations we were tasked with guarding the secrets of the ancient Pharaoh… and the price for said privilege, was our liberty."

Aura was staring at him now; her face reddened upon realising. It was strange – had all this been bottled up in his mind?

"I grew to resent the Pharaoh. I'd been saddled with certain… responsibilities." He hesitated a little, his mouth curving into a frown, "Because of him, I was doomed to live down in the darkness forever. That is… until I learned of the Millennium Puzzle."

Aura raised an eyebrow; she wondered about this sudden change of attitude. Was he really being sincere?
Nonetheless, she gasped silently, after discerning a hint of pain on his face – maybe there was a human side to this guy, after all.

"My search brought me here, to Japan. I discovered the Millennium Puzzle in the possession of a boy named Yugi… it was said to hold the spirit of the Pharaoh."

Just like Joey had said – a Pharaoh's spirit. Could such a story be true?

Marik lifted an arm above his head, stretching his fingertips and gazing idly at his open hand.

"The Pharaoh's power… if I obtain the Millennium Puzzle, and the three Egyptian God cards, I'll be the king. The world will cower at my feet, and worship me, as their new Pharaoh!"

He ended, by clenching his hand into a ball, and once again sitting up to look at her. She was still staring, filled with utmost wonder and slight amazement.

The idea of ruling the world still sounded ridiculous.
But… she'd witnessed the power of the Millennium Rod first hand. Maybe it really was possible that his words were true…

Aura couldn't be exactly sure.

However she realised something: for the first time since she got here, she somehow felt like she understood Marik - just a little. The thought, for some reason, brought a tiny smile to her face; but she did well to hide it.

"And… what are you planning on doing with me?" she asked – the killer question on her mind.

Leaning towards her with a smirk, Marik took her chin in his hand – crazily enough, she found that she didn't want to pull away this time, as he'd been surprisingly more gentle than before. His face was softer, too.

"I'll certainly want to keep you around for a while… things have become a lot more interesting around here, since you came along."