MM, panting relentlessly: Okay, dying right here! Too much work in too few days…
Marik: Awww, my dearie(s)! Let me mind-control you for another hour!
MM: NOOOOO! This is a disgrace! We/I are/am the possessors of this story, though I/we do NOT own Yugioh or its characters!
Marik: Which means you don't own me! I daresay I can even escape that anime show. I am my own being! MWAHAHA!!!!
MM: You'll be hearing that evil laughter a lot in the coming chapters. See you at the end!
Chapter 10
Doomsday in Domino
"I can hear them behind the warehouses!"
Hitting the brakes, Mai Valentine nodded, affirming Tristan. "Yeah, I do too. I'll park here and we can run in. It's faster than driving around."
Leaping out and helping Serenity along, the boys ducked into the shadows of the warehouses and waited for Mai to catch up. The soaring walls blocked out the wind, whittling down on the noise until only the voices from the seaside resonated.
"They don't sound too happy there," Duke remarked, "Yugi's using his tough voice."
The dust muffled Mai's footsteps as she joined them. As quickly as they could with Serenity's eyes still bandaged from the surgery, the group of five snuck up to the rest of the gang.
"Hey, the Kaiba brothers are there," Derek noted, "And why is Tea locked in a chair…with a crane over her?"
Heart skipping a beat, Tristan poked his head out to confirm Derek's findings. "You're right! And Joey and Yugi have chains on them! Man, this day just gets from good to horrible in two seconds!"
Duke, hand on an antsy Serenity's shoulder, peered out from behind Tristan. "They need help. Come on, we should try to get them out of those contraptions!"
Unanimously, Mai, Tristan, and Serenity cheered.
"Okay, so let's go!" Duke's foot stepped out into the sunshine, aimed for the backs of the Kaibas. The arm hooked around his elbow didn't budge, and, stumbling back a step, Duke frowned over at Serenity.
"Come on, I've got you," he comforted.
Ignoring him, Serenity turned to the human statue standing next to her.
"Derek, I don't think I heard your voice," she commented, cocking her head to the side and pretending to study him through the layers of bandages.
Derek stayed rooted to his spot, eyes peering past the blade of Tristan's hair to the crane beyond. A man in a black robe controlled it. Grinning at the crate dangling precariously over Tea's head, he fingered the release button. The man turned for a moment, as if noticing the teen staring at him, only to fix his gaze upon Seto Kaiba.
That robe…it's so familiar…
Shaking his head, Derek tried to recall another black robe somewhere. His mind flashed through images of Marik's place, of all the people that he had met, of the clients, of Rishid, his associates, the boat and the mansion and the willows and the beaches.
I can't remember…
Confused, he tried, yet again, to recall what all those associates of his wore. His mind tore again and again at the gray fuzz covering everything below those men's heads, but the fog filled itself in wherever his mental claws tore, tumbling into any opening like the surface of water.
What about before that? Maybe I saw it before I met Marik. Maybe at some other place…
The ships, stores, Duelist Kingdom, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Seto, Mokuba, Duke, Bakura, Rex, Weevil, Kaiba Corp's goonies, Pegasus and his people, Duke and his shop—
"That man!"
An image surfaced, clearer than diamond, to float before his eyes. A robed man, asking him for that card in Duke's shop, then sprinting out the door. Seizing that card from his hands, ignoring his shouts, face hidden under that drooping hood. Putting on a weak smile, he tapped Tristan on the shoulder. "Tristan, what's the name of the guy plaguing Yugi?"
Tristan blinked, then scratched at the back of his head. "It's a weird name. Yugi said that it was 'Marik'. Yeah." He gazed intently at the Academ brother. "Are you okay, man?"
A cloud drifted in, taking residence bin Derek's vision. Its puffy skirt swirled all around, blocking out all else before his eyes and drifting over to clog his ears. The voices around him grew far, far away, as if falling through a well to the mite sitting in a bucket at the bottom. His brain tensed as if lashed by a whip, its writhing sending shock flashing down his spine. The thief of disbelief snuck up and threw a bag over his heart, blinding it as his mind tried to piece together the puzzle and pick the better side.
"Marik…" his lips pushed themselves into a smile. "Some associates of mine should be hereabouts. I'll get them to come and help!" Derek lied smoothly, setting a stern expression upon his face.
Serenity drew in a sharp breath, then extended her arms cautiously for a hug. "That's a great idea, Derek1 Oh, we're so fortunate that you came to work here and can find someone else to help us out!"
Mai winked, shoving Derek off and back into the dark tunnel between the warehouses. "Yeah. Run off quickly now, Derek. Joey needs as many hands ripping away at those chains as he can get!"
Smiling one last time and releasing Serenity from his embrace, Derek sped off for Marik's dock. Burdensome breaths tore at his throat as his legs screamed for oxygen, carrying him between flickering, conspiring warehouse walls. His hair dashed in and out of his wide and staring eyes, teasing his vision like a pack of foxes. The pounding of his footsteps and his heart fused into a roaring medley and drilled away at his swollen eardrums, annoying his brain as time seemed to slow down. Every step took seconds too long, and the warehouses never seemed to change. Row after row after row, the rounded buildings popped up again and again like the center of some maze. His mind searched wildly amidst the flashes of coast that he saw for the one that marked the usual location of Marik's yacht. Finally, the correct building flew into his sight. Jerking his legs around and missing the walls by a whimpering hair, he lunged out from the shadows and fled across the bank as if a hunting falcon was eyeing him from the skies.
"An..dro…meda!"
Hand surprised at the ease with which the unlocked door slid open, he slipped in and tiptoed along the indoor piers. A golden spot bobbed upon the water before him, latched securely to the dock. The yacht.
Worrying that Marik may be waiting for him, Derek speed walked to the yacht and leapt in, breathing a sigh of relief to note that the whole place appeared deserted. Clambering over the railing, he slid through the doorway and padded over to Andromeda's usual room.
He opened the door.
"Hey, brother!"
Smiling brightly, Andry waved the magazine that she was reading at him, and patted at the vacant spot on the couch next to her. Derek wiped the sweat from his brows, eyes quicly darting around the room to scan for a possible spy.
"What's up? Man, you looked like you're in a hurry. Did you get your Locator cards? Marik left for two hours and managed to get his hands on all he needed!"
"I bet he beat up a bunch of people to get to it, too! Or maybe just kidnapped them and frisked them for everything that they've got!" Snarling, Derek's hands trembled as they fiddled with the lock. Finally succeeding, he stomped over to his shocked and whitening sister and seized her wrists.
"You've got to listen to me, Andromeda. He's tricking us. This guy named Marik was hounding Yugi—most probably Yami—through Battle City—"
"But Marik wasn't even there most of the time—" Andromeda interjected.
"—and he has Joey in chains and is threatening to drop a crate onto Tea. The guy operating the crane wears a robe exactly like that of the guy who robbed Duke's store, which resulted in me being fired. And that's when I found Marik and brought him home, and that's how he got around to offering me this job! He set it up! He got me fired! He—"
Frustrated, Andromeda slipped her wrists from his frenzied grip, rubbing at the reddening marks. "There're many robes! How do you know that they're the same kind?"
"I remember! And I think that's why I can't remember the clothing of all those associates of mine, because they wore robes, and Marik did something so that we wouldn't remember that!"
"And how would be do that?"
"I don't know! How does Yugi live with a lost spirit from a puzzle in him?"
Panting, Derek clenched and unclenched his hands. Andromeda frowned, then loosened.
"You're right…I can't remember, either. I thought it was my bad memory…" Her wide indigo eyes rose slowly to meet his, quaking, pandemic. A white blanket fell over her mind, covering all her senses of logic. As if standing in a black-and-white photo of a meadow, Andromeda looked around her at all her memories, her thoughts, her feelings, and found them all the same in tone and shade, blank and detached. A paralyzing web crawled through her veins, freezing her body and mind as her heart struggled valiantly, knowing that after the web came the hungry spider. It wriggled relentlessly, feeling the impending piercing of the venomous fangs. "And Marik wore a robe, too…"
"And no one knew where we were. Tristan said that Yami thought we had been kidnapped."
"We never even thought of writing a letter to them, even though I reflected constantly on Yami. I thought Marik would tell them for us," she whispered.
"But he never did. He never even said that he would," Derek insisted firmly.
"It's that strange mind thing again. That forgetting…" As if falling into the fairyland of sleep, Andromeda looked up at her brother with dreamy eyes.
Shaking his head, Derek snapped out of the shock and revelry. "Come on, Andry. Let's go." Taking her hand, he gave her a quick hug.
"Wily of you, Derek."
Streams of icy air suddenly engulfed the room, eagerly flanking the bitter words. The whole room darkened, as if flinching from the eyes of Hell. Feeling the mental lasers digging into his back, Derek's spine told his feet to twist his body around.
Marik Ishtar leaned against the doorframe, cocky smile hooking one side of his mouth. A golden scepter gleamed in his lean hand, its eye glaring with thunder and starvation at the two Academ siblings. His seductive violet eyes swirled with smoky vipers, shining with a hellfire of their own.
"The moment Umbra and Lumis fall through into the Shadow Realm and are unable to watch you, you go running off to your old friends, huh? I expected no less out of you, Academ." Pushing himself upright, the Egyptian teen approached, tapping the Rod easily. His footsteps thumped lightly against the hollow bottom of the boat, each amplifying the pounding of the Academs' heart.
"Marik. You evil, two-faced—"
With a roar, Derek flew toward his captor like a bullet, tightened fists matching his scrunched, fiery eyes.
Flash.
Reeling back, Andromeda blinked and watched the emerald spots dance across the backs of her eyelids. A second later, they scurried away back to their homeland, leaving a blurry vision before Andromeda's eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed.
Derek stood beside Marik, eyes a blank orange. His arms hung limply from his side, like one of the robots of Kaiba Corp. His usually audacious bangs dangled in a burly thicket over his eyes, casting his empty expression into shadow. Turning the corners of his lips down in a meaningless frown, he stared at his sister with all hints of recognition washed away.
Andromeda's words slid out as a whimper.
"Derek?"
Her brother's head snapped up.
"Derek is gone. Your brother is sleeping with the shadows, darling."
Her rosy lips fell open as her eyes searched her brother's face, brain not registering the sinister mechanical tone of his voice. Her hands shook, moving for something to hold onto as her feet scrambled backwards, carrying her farther and father away.
Marik grinned. "Go to Rishid, Derek."
Without a nod, Derek turned and vanished through the doorway.
Flicking his hand, Marik's eyes glowed as Andromeda froze at the sound of the lock clicking shut.
"Look here, honey."
Crooning, the tanned teen advanced, fingers sliding down the handle of his Millennium Rod.
"Come to your sweetheart."
Her mind suddenly snapping loose, Andomeda growled, her throat shaking at the passage of such a deep, hateful sound. She stumbled backwards, away from the looming form of her captor.
"Keep away, Marik! You jerk! You heartless, foolish—"
"I said, come here!"
Faster than lightning, Marik's hand shot to her throat, the blade of his dagger pressing against her pulsating skin before the ringing of metal from the sheath had even faded. She shivered in pain from the impact of her back against wall, russet bangs clinging to the sweat beading urgently off her forehead.
Her eyes stared deep into his, watching the violet vipers dancing within. The soft hurt, the sweetness, the warmth, all gone with the wind, covered by sheets of ice. Her mouth opened and closed like that of a fish out of water, gasping for breath but trapping her words. Roses can bloom with a sweetness and blush, but when winter comes, its petals lose all lust. Like Marik's eyes, they wither to gray, a desiccate corpse, the gift of decay. The nipping ice snapped its jaws till the rose surrendered its petals to frost. And now before her very eyes stayed only the stalk, waiting to fade.
"Andry…"
Stepping forward, Mark let his hair glow in the remaining light as he leaned down, his lips an inch from hers. The blade threatened to sink into her skin as his legs pinned her quivering ones against the wall, his hip grinding deeply against hers. Gently, his free hand slid over her helpless form, resting lusciously against her curves. Air freezing in her lungs, she closed her eyes, trying to push her lungs outwards against his firm, taut muscles, which so easily held her nailed to the wall.
His blade scraped slightly as it touched the collar that he had wrapped around her neck. His lips rubbed against hers, daring her to turn away. With a burst of frenzy, she wriggled, lips sliding off his as her hands seeked purchase along his lean arms.
"You son of a…"
Realizing her mistake in letting that air out of her lungs, she wheezed gently, defying Marik's wish of seeing her begging on her knees.
"Listen, Andromeda. I am your master, and you will do whatever I say," he murmured. With a flick of his wrist, he slid the blade back into its sheath and leaned back, letting the air fly into her sticking lungs as her hand slid to the raw line on her throat. With a steady hand, she pushed the straying hairs out of her face's territory and placed her hands on her hips. Eyes hardening as her heart attempted to wrap itself in a tortoise shell, she fumed like a hot spring vent.
"You are not my master. You are not anyone to me. You're Marik, a sick, lying, lascivious scumbag," she retorted smoothly, deadly calm ringing in her voice.
"Oh, words can cut so deep, love," Marik answered, brows pulling together in a well-practiced expression of pain as his hand shot up to his "wounded" heart. "Do you never consider my feelings?"
"Why should I?" she sneered, marching up to him and sticking a finger on his chest.
Astounded, he eyed the thin digit poking him above his heart, then raised an amused brow. "I admit that you're an interesting person, Andry, but I would never have spoken to you if you hadn't been Pharaoh's sweetheart."
"I would have liked to have never known you," Andromeda replied, glaring into his mocking eyes.
Smirking, he paced the locked cabin, tapping the head of his scepter on his palm. "You know what happened to the last person who defied me?" he asked, condescension dripping from every word.
"He lived and will eventually defeat you in the Battle City Finals and crush all your dreams, Marik," she spat back, "His name is Yami."
Wheeling around, he glared at her, hand suddenly rigid around his Millennium item as his eyes smoldered like a chimney in the wintertime. His boots clicked like the steps of a dragon as he approached her, noting with blind rage how she didn't bother to back away. Indigo eyes gleaming like swords of sapphire, she folded her arms across her chest.
"You're a brave girl, with a loving heart for a fool who isn't going to live past the end of this week," he declared, reading the unforgiving light in her eyes. "If you weren't so determined to whore around with him, I would offer to let you live for a few more years."
"You're going to kill me, huh? You think you can?" she taunted, leaning forward and poking her nose psat the top of his scepter.
"Of course," he gasped, as if offended by her question.
"Listen, you twit. I'll kill you before you can blink!"
Cocking his head, he blinked in slow motion, hand reaching out to tickle her cheek. "Oh yeah?"
Faster than the wind, her hand shot up. The ringing of her hand on his cheek echoed, shocking the ocean into silence.
Marik stared at her. His sun-kissed hand rose to his cheek, touching the rawness chewing up his skin. Red streaks streamed across that side of his face, falling like a handful of shooting stars. A patch of white, dancing amongst the red, slowly changed its color. The little handprint lingered upon his cheek, caressing his skin as if whispering a last goodbye.
Andromeda's hand covered her mouth, surprised that her fingers had actually made contact.
Taking a deep breath, Marik lifted the Millennium Rod.
"Serves you right," she murmured, eyeing the golden thing fro which the dagger had come with some concern.
The air flew from her lungs. Eyes dazed by a flash of gray, she felt the pain dash out from her abdomen where his arm had landed, crawling over to clash with her every nerve as a giant parasite. Her head snapped upwards as her back ground into the wall, her curving tailbone threatening to break from the pressure gnawing at its fibers. Slowly, she slid down the wall, landing in a numb puddle upon the ground. A shadow stretched over her curled up body, and she lifted her eyes defiantly to glare into Marik's raging eyes.
"I was going to offer you a chance to help me out, but it looks like I'd just have to take the easy way out of this," he hissed, sniping laughter twisted around every syllable.
Raising his hand, he let his mind slide into hers. He felt her shiver in surprise, then willing her mind to close against her, to shove out the wisps of his power. Like an amoeba, his influence opened its arms, wrapping her mind in shivering blindness and swallowing her whole. The next second, her brain closed shuddered and powered down.
Stepping back, Marik Ishtar admired his handiwork, relishing at the vacant look within her usually sparkling indigo eyes.
"Now, my sweet, sweet, darling, pray tell. Who am I?"
She turned her head upwards, gazing adoringly up at him. "You are my master. Master Marik. Master Ishtar."
Sighing contently, he cupped her little face in one hand, then letting his fingers slip to her chin and tilt it towards him. Somewhere deep in his conscience, he admired her soft, open mouth, framed by those deep pink lips, ignoring the slight extra bit of roundness that had lodged in her cheeks, under the loving embrace of her russet locks.
Leaning down, he kissed her forehead, warm lips stealing the cool of her skin.
"And who are you?"
A little smile crawled unto her lips as she fluttered her lashes demurely. He remembered that other time when she had sat under his mind control, and felt cold contentment wash over his nerves, knowing that this time, he could control her forever.
"I am you slave, of course. Yours for the keeping."
Raising an eyebrow at the almost proud attitude in her tone, he ran his hand through her tangled hair.
"For how long?"
She dropped to her knees, her shirt slipping as she craned back her head, wide eyes blinking blankly, allowing him a seductive view of her long, slender neck.
"For eternity."
Marik: WOW! I get a sex slave?
MM: WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, PROMISCUOUS JERK!
Marik, cowering: Okay.
MM: Ha, finally, the roles have fallen into their rightful orders!
Marik: You are (a) fallen angel(s) who is/are very thoughtful when it comes to the well-being of your characters!
Andromeda: Yeah, up till now. But from here on, I get to tortured by that idiot.
Marik: Hey, you better not be pointing towards me!
MM, grabbing Andromeda's hand and turning it around to point at Yami: Of course not, Marik!
Yami, on his knees with hand stretched toward Andromeda: Oh, my darling! I shall not fail you! I shall rescue you! I shall—
Marik, admiring the work of his white knuckles: There we go!
Andromeda, blanching: YAMI!
MM, rolling eyes as Andry starts bawling: See you next time, in the torture-filled episode 11 of Angel's Tears! Thanks for visiting the House of Muse!