Marik froze when he saw his friend, "Ryou... what did you do to yourself?" The shirt he wore hung off his shoulder, Ryou's cheeks were slightly hollow and his arms long and lanky. Marik guessed he was wearing Bakura's clothes, which made the boy look slightly adorable, but his body was so thin, it was a shock to Marik that Bakura's shirt didn't slip around the boys' ankles.
Looking down and biting his lip, Ryou just stepped back and opened the door wider to let them in. He knew that Marik would be shocked, he just wasn't sure how shocked.
Even Malik was kind of surprised. What he had seen of Ryou looked nothing like this, and the boy didn't seem the type to do this to himself. Shaking his head slightly, he walked inside.
Marik walked inside, even the house was un-kept, dust everywhere and everything looked unused. Marik was worried about Ryou, the way the boy looked... it didn't seem like Ryou would make it.
I have to believe he can though, I don't want to have a lack in faith, he is my friend and he said he'd be fine... Marik sighed and pulled the rod out from behind him. "Are you absolutely sure about this Ryou?
The boy watched Marik look around. He knew that he'd be noticing every little thing that was abnormal. Ryou nodded. "I'm positive. Just... can I eat something first?" His stomach growled loudly.
Malik examined a vase of dead flowers. Even their petals had dust on them. This place looked as if it hadn't been touched in months.
Marik nodded, "It'd be better if you did eat first. More energy that way." He said, biting his lip at the sheer appearance of the place.
Ryou nodded, too, and started walking towards the kitchen. The way he walked was still shaky and unbalanced, but he was getting used to it. He could tell Marik was unnerved about how everything looked, but he tried to ignore it. As he made his way to the kitchen, he thought about what exactly he wanted to eat.
~He looks pretty bad, huh?~ Malik asked over the mind link. ~Are you still sure you want to go through with this today? We could ask him to wait a little longer. Ask to at least wait until he's not so... frail.~
Marik nodded, ~I thought about asking... but if Bakura's fighting death as hard as I think he is... he won't last much longer, you'll have to go get Bakura from the shadow realm while I stay with Ryou to make sure this doesn't kill him.~
~Yeah. Marik... Be careful okay?~ Malik scowled at how.. caring he sounded. He just didn't want anything to hurt Marik... And that included one of his hikari's friends being hurt.
Once again, Ryou decided on soup. Almost everything else would be expired by now. He repeated the same process as yesterday: can opener, bowl, microwave. After his meal was completed, he made his way back into the living room and sat down with his soup, looking at it hungrily as he waited for it to cool.
Marik smiled brightly, ~Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.~ He glanced over at Ryou. "Don't try eating that all at once okay? You don't look like you've eaten much..." concern was dripping from Marik's tone.
Ryou smiled reassuringly at Marik. "I know. I'm taking things slow." He took a bite of the soup, relishing the taste and closing his eyes.
"I just don't want you to hurt yourself." Marik said, sitting next to Ryou.
Ryou sighed. "I've already done that. This is me trying to fix it," he said, taking another bite.
From across the room, Malik sneezed from the dust on a bookcase he was examining.
"Good, I don't like seeing you like this at all!" Marik said, somewhat childishly. He turned around and looked at Malik, rolling his eyes.
At that, Ryou cringed a bit. Fearing he angered his friend, he spoke softly, "I'm sorry." He got another spoonful of soup and ate it.
"What? Am I not allowed to sneeze?" Malik protested.
"Don't apologize I'm not mad or anything, just take better care of yourself." Marik smiled, then turned to Malik. "I wasn't expecting you to sneeze so adorably." He laughed.
"I've just started trying to do that." Ryou sighed. He continued eating, barely listening to what Marik and Malik were saying.
Malik frowned, growling. "I am NOT adorable in ANY way!"
Marik giggled. "You are too! Don't you think Ryou? Wasn't that adorable?" Marik was pleading Ryou with his eyes to help him in his cause.
Ryou smiled a little. "It was pretty adorable to me." This made Malik growl again, stomping his foot.
"I am NOT!" Shadow magic crackled in the air around him as his anger flared.
Marik put on an adorable scared face. "Malik-sama, don't get mad. It just means we like you." He sniffled once and the look on Malik's face softened. Marik had won this time.
Malik couldn't be mad at that face... And when Ryou played along and made a similar face, his anger crumbled. He couldn't very well hurt them; Marik was his hikari and Ryou wasn't well... With a sigh, he started to turn back to examining things then sneezed again.
The soup was almost done and Ryou was sad about this... It had tasted so good, too..
Marik looked at Ryou's bowl. "Good, as soon as you're done... we can bring Bakura back." Marik smiled, knowing that would make Ryou happier.
That did make Ryou happier. He began scooping the last bit of it up to eat.
Another sneeze came from Malik's side of the room. "RA DAMN THIS FUCKING DUST!" Ryou winced at the yelling and felt a bit guilty that Bakura was going to come home to a messy house.
Marik sighed. "If you hate it so much... send it to the shadow realm! Ra you're so forgetful!" Marik giggled again, noticing the slight smile Ryou had. "You're so cute Ryou-chan!"
He only smiled because those two bickering was quite funny... and kind of cute. His cheeks tinged a little pink at Marik's compliment. Ryou drank the rest of the broth from the bowl, then set it on the coffee table. "Thank you."
Send all the dist to the shadow realm... not a bad idea. Scowling at his own forgetfulness, he held his hands out and focused on the little particles of dust: his new nemesis. The room was momentarily crackling with shadow magic before all of the dust was gone.
Brown eyes filled with wonder as he stared around the room. The place looked cleaner now. Bakura wouldn't have to come home to a dirty house!
"Anytime Ryou!" Marik smiled, then stood, twirling the Rod in his fingers. "You ready?"
Ryou nodded. "What exactly do I have to do?"
"Well, for starters, just stand still. It'll hurt a lot and you'll have the urge to kill yourself, but no matter how much you want to, don't. I'm staying out here to make sure it won't happen. Malik's going in after Bakura." Marik held the rod up. "Got it?"
His eyes widened a little. So more urges to kill himself? Great. This will probably only make his depression worse... that is until Bakura is out. Taking a deep breath, Ryou nodded. "I'm ready."
Malik strolled over to them, ready for his task.
Marik pointed the Rod at Ryou, a small light erupted from the eye in the center, creating a beam that connected itself to Ryou's chest, it shouldn't have hurt him, but Ryou stumbled anyway. A small portal opened off to the side.
"That'd be near where Bakura is." Marik said. "Tell me when you found him and I'll re-open the portal." He told Malik.
Malik nodded and went in to start his mission.
It didn't particularly hurt, it was just surprising. Ryou suddenly felt a little breathless and he stared at the light in slight fear.
The portal closed behind Malik and the light disappeared. "Now we just have to wait." Marik pulled Ryou onto the couch. "Just relax and it shouldn't be too bad."
Bakura couldn't move anymore, it was too cold and he'd fought too long. "I'm sorry Ryou." He said to himself. "I tried." off in the distance he heard footsteps...
He could see Bakura's form on the ground. He seemed to be giving up. Malik growled, yelling as he ran towards the thief, "RA DAMNIT BAKURA YOU BETTER STAY ALIVE!"
Ryou started shaking violently as the pain started. It wasn't physical pain, but mental. It wormed its way into his brain and he felt like he wanted to die. Nobody loved him, he was worthless, his existence meant nothing. He leaned against Marik for support, unable to sit up on his own anymore.
Bakura twitched, he didn't want to die, but it hurt so badly to move now, he turned his head, wincing. "I-I'm trying..." and he was, he still wanted to live, it just hurt now.
Marik held Ryou carefully. "He's coming back, Ryou, just relax."
"Ryou is waiting for you! Just hold on a little longer!" he said, reaching Bakura and bending over to pick him up. ~Marik, I've got him, hurry!~ He hoisted Bakura over his shoulder and waited for a response from his hikari.
There was no way they'd make it, Bakura was going to die. Ryou wanted to die, too, if Bakura was going to die. Marik spoke lies. Bakura wasn't coming back, Malik wouldn't find him in time. He started shaking harder in Marik's arms, looking absolutely traumatized as images of Bakura in pain flooded his mind. How could he relax when he was being put through this?
Marik saw something black on Ryou's hand and lifted it up. "Look! He loves you see?" The writing on Ryou's hand was slightly faded, but still readable. It clearly stated what Bakura felt. "Malik has him now, they're coming back!" ~Gotcha!~ And Marik grabbed the rod, furiously trying to re-open the portal.
Malik could feel Bakura weakening. "Just hold on a little longer! He's almost got the portal open! Do it for Ryou!"
He stared down at the writing on his hand. "I love you, Koi." it said. He already knew that Bakura loved him, but that didn't stop him from believing that he would never see his yami again. They couldn't escape the shadow realm. It was impossible! There was no way... He might as well just die now.
"R-Ryou..." Bakura breathed, the darkness finally doing its job, he tried to fight, but it hurt so much. His body tensed, For Ryou! He thought, using what energy he had left to fight death.
Marik growled in frustration and grabbed Ryou's hand. "This'll hurt..." and with a burst of light the portal was open again, Ryou crying out in pain.
Yes! Malik thought, seeing the portal and jumping through.
Ryou yelped at the pain, then passed out into Marik's lap. His body was even weaker than before from all of that, and his breathing was labored. But now Bakura was back.
Bakura gasped for air when they were out, energy suddenly rushing into him. Frowning slightly he moved towards Ryou, who looked dead.
Marik frowned also. "He was fine until I opened the portal..."
Bakura picked Ryou up carefully, feeling the full weight of Ryou and noticing it was much less than the last time he'd done it. Bakura kissed Ryou softly.
"Please wake up... I'm back now."
