The next day…
The morning sun brightens the dreary mood around the grounds of the asylum, the inmates walking about doing their normal routines. In one cell however, Marik Ishtar looks around the bare walls like a scared puppy. He hears the metal grate that is used only for food and other things open on the bottom of the door and the face of a thin faced man in a black and white striped mask and a red suit appears, his dark purple eyes looking around the room for Marik.
"Marik?" he says in a hushed whisper that only he and the Egyptian can hear.
Marik perks up at the sound and looks down at the man, "Yes?"
"I can't take it anymore Marik, can you? The lights, the screaming, the crazy faces staring at me! Mark my words, the walls are closing in on us! I've got to get out here!"
"Attention Arkana, my hair commands you to get back to work!" a man with a large spike for brown hair and dressed as an agent of some sort walks into the room towards the man in the mask, who stands up and puts on his red top hat before walking away to go back to his guarding post. The agent unlocks the door to the room Marik is in and enters.
"Master Kaiba wants to see you." The agent watches carefully as Marik stands up, ready just in case something happens.
"At last, my time has come! Now you shall see, Steve, that I am not insane!" Marik dusts off his pants and proudly nods at what he had just stated.
"Its Kemo…and my hair says it wouldn't bet on it." Kemo guides Marik out of the corridors of the asylum before getting to Kaiba's personal "backyard", where he and Mokuba are eating a large breakfast on a fancy table clothed glass dining table. Kemo stops the Egyptian before he gets too close and walks to Kaiba himself.
"Mister Kaiba…"
Kaiba looks up from his meal, "What is it, Kemo?"
"Mister Ishtar is here, sir."
"Send him out." Kaiba waves his hand and returns to his food.
The agent nods and sends Marik to the table, walking off to handle business elsewhere. Mokuba smiles at Marik as he sits down across from Kaiba, who stares at him while taking a sip of coffee.
"Nice of you to join us, Mister Ishtar!" Mokuba bites into a bit of egg as Kaiba clears his throat.
"How are we feeling today, Marik?"
Marik smiles wide, "Normal, perfectly normal."
"Excellent," Kaiba continues to stare at Marik, hands together at the fingertips in a businesslike manner.
"May I ask WHY I have been brought to this sanitarium?" Marik looks down at the food, observing it.
"My big bro and I want to just perform some tests," Mokuba chirps in, watching the two speak.
"Mokuba...what did I say about saying things for me?" Kaiba finally picked up his coffee again. "But my brother is right, if you don't mind we would like to run only a few small tests."
"Not at all; as you can see, Binky Boy, I'm quite alright now!" the Egyptian grins, making Mokuba shiver a bit at how wide his grin could get.
"Y-you hungry? Help yourself, we got lots!" Mokuba lightly pushes a tray of raisin muffins at Marik.
"…Famished…" Marik's lip curls at the food on the table, nothing looking the least bit appetizing…until he spots a black beetle walking across the table. Quickly, he makes sure no one is watching him and snatches it, sticking it in his mouth and chewing on it.
Unfortunately, Mokuba notices at the last second and stares at Marik quizzically. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Marik asks, his hand still near his mouth.
"You just grabbed something from the table…"
Marik shakes his head. "I did not."
Kaiba lifts his gaze from his food and looks up at the two, wondering what could be going on.
"I saw you; you picked something up from the table and ate it. It looked like an insect…" Mokuba gives Marik a sideways glance, a bit freaked out by what he thought he did.
"Oh, that was just a raspberry!" Marik grins innocently.
"We don't have any raspberries." Kaiba looks at Marik, almost studying him.
"…Then it must have been a raisen!" Marik looks at the muffins and picks one up, pointing to a bare part on it. "See? There's one missing on this one."
Mokuba laughs at how he may have mistaken a raisin for a bug and Kaiba sighs, closing his eyes in annoyance. Marik laughs along with them, noticing out of the corner of his eye a spider dangling from a web near his head.
"How silly of me, must have been my imagina-" Mokuba stops as he sees Marik grab something out of the air and his eyes widen. "You did it again."
"Did what?" Marik puts on his innocence again and cocks his head.
"You put another bug in your mouth, like a spider or something!"
"Mokuba…" Kaiba whispers sternly, not wanting to be embarrassed by his little brother.
"I'm not kidding bro! He really did it this time, I swear!"
"I did not…" Marik frowns.
"Yes you did!"
"Did not."
"Did too!"
"I did no such thing!" Marik crosses his arms and closes his eyes, moving his head to one side in a childish way.
"Mokuba! You're being rude and disrespectful in front of our guest!" Kaiba glares at Mokuba, his hand clenched tightly around the mug of coffee in his hand. "Stop this ridiculousness, now!"
Mokuba points to Marik, "I'm telling you the truth, Seto! I saw him snatch a spider out of the air and eat it!"
"A-a spider?" Marik swallows loudly and smacks his lips. "How absurd!"
"Mokuba…I'm not going to ask you twice…" Kaiba begins to stand up, looking down at his brother with frustration.
As Mokba tries to explain to his brother that he is not making a scene or anything, Marik goes into predator mode as he spots a grasshopper jump near the underside of the table. He grins sadistically and looks at the two squabble amongst themselves, frowning at them before he gets an idea.
"Oopsie, I dropped my fork!" Marik replies as he drops his fork onto the ground and dives under the table to catch his prey.
By this time, Kaiba had stopped arguing with Mokuba long enough to see Marik drop his fork and he raised an eyebrow. "Dropped it? You practically threw it."
At that instant, the table starts to shake and move about, making Mokuba and Kaiba have to stand out of their seats in a panicked surprise.
"Ishtar! What the heck are you doing down there?" Kaiba went to lift up the tablecloth when the fork flies onto the table, landing in Kaiba's food.
"FORK FOUND!" A second later, Marik sits back in his seat and smiles, "Sorry for the delay, gentlemen."
"What's gotten into you? I don't-"Kaiba's eyes widen and he stares at Marik's face, his mouth open in mid-sentence and un-moving. Sticking out of the Egyptian's mouth is the leg of a grasshopper, twitching and moving as it tries to escape.
"My god…you're eating insects off the ground!" Kaiba says in disgust.
"Told ya he was a weirdo…" Mokuba is also staring at Marik's face the same way as Kaiba.
"W-what makes you say that, Kaiba?" Marik looks taken aback by the accusation.
"I can see one trying to get out of your mouth!" Kaiba stares at the bug in disbelief.
"My mouth?" Marik glances down and realizes that they CAN see the insect's leg sticking out of it.
"Yes your mouth, Ishtar, you think I'm stupid? Friggen thing looks like its fighting to save its life, wriggling like that!"
Marik pauses for a second before his tongue flicks out and brings the leg into his mouth, closing his mouth with a crunch. "I have no idea what you or the Jawa are talking about! If you insist on ranting on like this, I'm going to leave."
"Jawa?" Mokuba growls as Kaiba lifts a finger to Marik, eyes narrowed. However just as he is about to say something, Marik looks to the sky and his eyes follow a fly buzzing around their heads.
"Hello little darling…don't be afraid…" Marik stands up and swats a hand out, missing the fly by an inch; the psychotic grin back on his face as he cackles evilly at the fly.
"Um…Seto?" Mokuba sees the smile and hides a bit behind the coffee jug.
"I won't hurt you…" he starts walking around a bit near the table, swatting at the fly like a cat trying to catch a bird. "All I want is YOUR LIFE!"
Marik dives at the fly as it lands on the table, knocking Kaiba down and making the table flip on its side. Mokuba screams and calls for Kemo while Kaiba tries to get out from under Marik. As Kemo enters, Marik is laughing maniacaly, the fly finally caught in his hand. Kaiba finally pushes off Marik and Kemo grabs him, putting him in a full nelson. Marik eats the fly and licks his lips, raving on about how it was a worthy sacrifice.
"Put this man in a strait jacket!" Kaiba commands with a face of rage, walking off to clean himself and change his now stained clothes.
Kemo is about to leave with the raving lunatic when Mokuba stops him, "Wait; give him an enema, THEN get the straightjacket!" He nods with approval as Kemo nods back and starts dragging Marik away, who is manically laughing again.
The sound of knocking raps on Mai's door and Tea enters, wearing the outfit of a horseback rider. At the sight of Mai still in bed, she smirks.
"Come on Mai, its past ten and the horses are saddled and waiting!"
Opening the curtains to the window, sunlight hits Mai in the face and she puts an arm up to shield her eyes.
"Tea…," her voice sounds weak, "I don't think I could put a foot out of bed today…"
Tea looks down at Mai on the bed and sits next to her, worry written on her face.
"I had such terrible dreams…I feel completely drained…"
Tea holds a hand out to Mai and places it on her forehead. "You are dreadfully pale…Hang on, let me get my father to come look at you." She gets up from the bed and goes to find Kaiba, leaving the door slightly adjar.
Mai closes her eyes again and shifts in her sleep, her head going to the side and exposing two teeth marks on her neck under her blonde hair.
