A stalemate or an...

10

Equator

"...but well, it can happen to any Yami. We all came from something human, in the end."

You kept twirling around his words. Yami, that word, there it was again.

"Yami? What do you mean? What's your name anyway?" you said.

He smirked again. "We're darknesses. I am Yami Bakura hun, at your service. Bakura alone for friends," and he chuckled acridly.

You sighed, and noticed that the amulet he wore around his neck was floating in a terribly non-normal way, and its five dangling pointers were positioned together towards your bag.

"What's the thing around your neck? Why is it floating like that?" you asked, freaked.

"For someone who collects near-death experiences, you ask too many questions," he answered annoyed, "This is the Millenium Ring, and it points so, because probably..."

He swiftly reached for your bag, and extracted the Millenium Rod, "... probably there's a Millenium Rod inside this thing. Now how come you have it, hun?"

His sneer made your stomach churn. "Stealing stuff? You got the hang of it quite easily," he commented noxiously.

"Not quite, not stealing," you said steely, fed up with his taunting you. Besides, if he didn't mean you any harm at the moment, it was probably safe to leave while you still could.

"Here, have it back," he said, handing it to you with an expression of infinite amusement, "And you say hello to your sunflower boy for me."

You gritted your teeth at his choice of words, snatched the knife from his grasp and left as quickly as you could. As you entered the corridor, you heard him cackle. "It is not time yet for me to deal with the Rod", Bakura was thinking.

xxx

The next morning you had breakfast with many of the duelists in one of the large halls. There you could chat a bit and have some decent human contact- Joey from Art class was there, thankfully, and though he wasn't THE one friend in your life, well, at least he was a familiar face. Odd little Yugi was there too, and some friends of them who seemed easy going enough. And creepy Bakura, who was called Ryou by this gang, and who seemed to have reverted to the gentle teen you'd crossed a few words with the previous day (you'd ceased to try to understand). Ryou was an interesting fellow, and in the little chat you made, you found him the most agreeable of them all. Which was weird.

Malik, or 'Namu' as they called him, wasn't there that morning- it made you a bit anxious, because he had not showed up last evening to reclaim the Rod, and you frankly didn't like to carry it around the place inside your bag all the time...

xxx

You'd not meant to end up where you ended up. You'd wanted to go to a nice balcony the guys had been speaking of during breakfast, that had a lot of lush plants, was sheltered from the wind, and overlooked the ocean. But you came again to that platform at the top of the zeppelin, where you'd been with Malik the day before.

Malik was there again, leaning against the railing, looking out to the ocean.

Malik...

No, it wasn't Malik. His ashy hair blew wildly in the morning breeze, and the pale sun gave him a leonine appearance. He was a handsome young man, although his sneer as he pressed the knife against your throat had haunted your dreams night after night.

He was very handsome... Yami Malik. Though you knew you had to run away from that place before he spotted you, your feet seemed to be glued to the ground. He was not like Bakura, who was just toying around with everything (or so it seemed to you). You knew that he'd dispose of you were he to be given the chance, you had to get away.

He turned round, for a fraction of a second your eyes met his and your heart skipped a beat. Damned hormones. But then, as he slowly came up, an intense fear took over you, and you knew that running alone wasn't going to get you out of that one. You could tell it from the maleficent glint in his eye.

"Again in the way, my dear," he said in his rich, deep voice. A drift of wind brought to you his earthen scent, it was like nothing you'd ever smelt before.

Gathering up all your courage, you managed to say, "Yami Malik, isn't it?"

He quirked an eyebrow.

"I- I mean you well, stop this!"

He laughed evilly in your face. "Thanks for the intentions," he said, somewhat humoured, "But you saw too much."

You took a step backwards- "I have your Millenium Rod. You've been looking for it... haven't you?" It seemed to work, he raised his eyebrows, not amused any more.

"We could strike a deal... I give it to you and we're cool..."

He chuckled. "As you wish, my dear." He'd sounded SO insincere.

Slowly, you reached for your bag and fished the Rod. His narrowed eyes followed every movement you made and evaluated you.

And you... were starting to believe what the other Malik had told you. About all the magic and stuff- but it scared you even more. Because if you gave Yami Malik that Item you had, wouldn't he use it for some evil purpose, if it was truly as powerful as Malik'd said?

But then you grew a suicidal idea. It might not save the world, but maybe it could give you some seconds to run for it. Grabbing the Rod, you swung it as strongly as you could in the opposite direction from your escape route.

His eyes narrowed and he swore at you in some foreign language, Arab perhaps? Ancient Egyptian?

You ran into the building and got lost in a maze of corridors, safely away from Yami Malik...

Author's note: Eeeey! It's been long- Internet trouble. Yeah.

There's something I've forgotten to say, but it's not late at all to say it: I'm taking my own... director's cut of Battle Ship, with an altered timeline: for example, the Noah Arc won't be happening. But go along with me, for the sake of the plot.

So... what did you think of Yami Malik? Suggestions? Comments?