Chapter Seven

Morning found Marik sleeping in front of the mini-fridge in the staff lounge, the door to which was still half open, and Ryou partly falling off the sofa a few feet away. The curtain-less window to the room had begun to filter in the sunlight, waking the two from their dreams. Ryou was the first to awake, the light dappling his face. Moving to get up, and subsequently falling off the sofa, Ryou called Marik's name. Fidgeting, Marik tried to ignore reality's calling and return to sleep, though he ultimately failed when Ryou started shaking him.

"'kay, I'm up," he grumbled, swatting at Ryou's hand. "My cell is on the table, call Yugi and arrange us a ride."

"Why don't-"

"Because he likes you better, that's why," Marik said, slamming the fridge door for emphasis. He tuned out Ryou and started to think about the next move they would have to make. He didn't relish the though of attempting to black mail Kaiba... but it was starting to look like the only option.

"Yugi says 15 minuets." Ryou snapped the phone and tossed it to Marik. "So, what's the plan again?"

"Not sure." Marik had moved to the sofa to pick up his jacket, slipping it on he started to head out the door. "Figured we'd make it up as we went along."

As promised Yugi's car pulled up a few moments later and the two entered in side, Marik taking shotgun and ignoring Yugi's bewildered look.

"So… where we headed?" Yugi finally asked.

"Kaiba Corp. HQ, we're going to have to figure out just how much damage Kaiba has caused with these 'virtual souls'." If Marik heard Ryou groan, he ignored him.

"Marik…?" Yugi asked in a worried tone, "What are you planning to-"

"Drive!" And with that, Yugi's blue Spectra shot off in the direction of the massive KC building.

It took 20 minuets, but eventually the threesome was standing outside a conference room in the KC main building. "I still don't know what we're doing here..." Yugi mumbled.

"Me neither..." Ryou sighed as Marik started banging on the door.

"Yo, director. We need to have a dialogue!" He shouted, far louder than required. The sliding door reluctantly opened, give the group access to the oval room.

"I thought I got rid of you yesterday, Ishtar." He paused glancing over Mark's shoulder, "Oh look, you brought back up. Thought all of you were out of my life for good, wishful thinking- eh Yugi?" Kaiba smiled.

"Did you read the documents I gave you yesterday?" Marik had ignored Kaiba's comment to Yugi.

"Yes, it was a wonderful story. Too bad you had no actual proof of any of it."

"But it-"

"Was all hearsay and conjecture. Nothing that couldn't be written off by my PR for sure." Kaiba seemed far more relaxed this morning than he had been the previous night, and this fact was frustrating Marik. He couldn't help his tone becoming petulant as he tried to regain control of the situation.

"You're bluffing Kaiba, if that information was made public your reputation would be ruined. Black magic, witchcraft, occult ceremonies, its all there!" Marik was almost shouting now.

"So I'd look like a millionaire with some eccentric hobbies, hardly ground breaking news. Most entrepreneur have at least one. Now, are you done wasting my time- again?"

End Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Kaiba could feel the light presence near his shoulder, flickering in and out of reality. She was the result of nearly a years work, cutting-edge technology, state-of-the-art holographics and, as Marik implied, some dark arts.

The Pegasus file, as it had come to be known, surfaced nearly three years after Duelist Kingdom.