Chapter Eleven: Aftermath

Marik sighed as he exited his bedroom. He had just gotten out of the shower after coming home from work. Now, he was headed to Malik's room and knocked before entering. Malik sat up in bed and turned his gaze away from his father expecting a harsh lecture. It surprised him when Marik just sat on the bed next to him and put one arm around him.

"Dad…?" Malik asked, looking up at him. Marik didn't answer right away.

"Son," Marik finally said. "I think it's time I told you everything." Malik blinked. He turned toward his dad.

"About what, dad?" he asked. Marik sighed.

"Son, do you remember your mother?" Marik looked at his son. Malik looked down, thinking really hard.

"Sorta," he said. "I mean it's kinda fuzzy…" He trailed off. Marik frowned. He sat up and pulled Malik closer.

"Malik, you're mother isn't dead," Marik admitted. Malik said nothing. "She walked on me and you when you were three." He paused for a moment. "I didn't tell you the truth because I was afraid, that if she did come back, you would hate her." He looked over at Malik, who seemed more sad than angry.

"I kinda knew she wasn't dead, dad." Marik looked down at Malik staring at him with both fear and confusion. Before Marik could ask, Malik continued. "After Yugi tried to bring back his mother's spirit, he said he could really feel her energy everywhere he went; so I figured I should try it. Yugi and I tried one night while you were at work." He paused, tears filling his eyes. "It didn't work; I didn't feel anything. That's when I started to wondered if you had been lying to me…I thought about confronting you, but with what? So instead, I kept my mouth shut, hoping you would tell me sooner or later." A sob escaped him. "I'm sorry dad!" He threw his arms around Marik. Marik was still in shock from what he just heard. He looked down at his son, sympathy immediately consuming him. He slowly wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.

"It's okay son," he said. "It's okay…"

XXXX

After Malik had stopped crying, he and Marik still remained in each other arms. Malik looked up at his father; he was staring into the space, his eyes were emotionless. Malik couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Dad…?" Malik spoke up.

"Hm?" Marik looked down at his son, only to meet slightly fearful eyes. He sighed and gave Malik a quick hug. "I'm thinking about how much I fucked up your life." Malik frowned and sat up.

"Aw, dad. You didn't…" He fell silent; Marik raised an eyebrow. "Screw up my life. I mean, it's not like I'm emotionally scarred or anything." He looked down at his hands. Marik smiled weakly at him. He ran his fingers through Malik's sand-colored hair and gently kissed him on the forehead. Malik was a bit surprised by this action. He wasn't used to his father showing compassion. Marik smiled at him.

"Forgive me?" he asked.

"There's nothing to forgive, dad." Malik smiled. "You did what you thought was best." Marik smiled again. He gave Malik one last hug before heading for the door. He turned out the lights as went.

"I like this compassion thing," Marik thought as he headed to his bedroom. "It works better."

XXXX

Malik turned onto his stomach as he slept; he sighed softly. His bedroom window opened with a small click as a small gust of wind blew. Malik shivered, pulling the covers around him tighter. Almost immediately after doing that, he began to feel hot. He shifted uncomfortingly. The heat began to travel to his pace; he back to sweat. The heat seemed to be settling into his skin; he let out a small whimper. The amazing warmth eventually woke him up, causing him more pain than before.

"What's wrong with me?" he thought. He tried rolling his shoulders, assuming it was muscle pain, but only made the burning worse. He sat up in bed. "Maybe I should get dad…" he wondered. He started to crawl to the edge of the bed. Suddenly, the pain increased ten fold. A weak cry of pain came from his lips as he fell over. He held his shoulders in pain. He tried to call out for Marik but it didn't work. "Please come dad…" he begged mentally. The burning just kept increasing with every minute, maybe second. Another whimper slipped out. Breathing became difficult and he shivered, despite the heat on his back.

"Dad…" he called out in a ragged voice. Malik wasn't sure how loud he had said it, but hoped Marik had heard him.

XXXX

Marik awoke from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at his digital alarm clock. One thirty-two a.m. in bright red shined at him. He huffed and turned onto his side, trying to get comfortable. However, he still couldn't go back to sleep; he had this weird feeling in his stomach. He looked back at the clock, seeing that he had been laying there for five minutes. He sat up in bed, lacing all his fingers together and resting his elbows on his knees in thought.

"What's this feeling?" he asked himself mentally. It was a sick feeling that seemed to squeeze his stomach playfully. He sighed, slightly aggravated. He looked up at his closed door. "Maybe I should go check on Malik." he thought, wondering what his stomach had to do with his son. Shaking his head at himself, he grabbed his robe and put on his slippers then headed for Malik's room. Thoughts of how ridiculous he was filled his mind as he walked down the hall. "He's probably sleeping." he thought.

"Dad…"

Marik's heart leaped into his throat. He did not like the way that sounded. He quickly ran to Malik's room and opened the door. Malik was huddled over in pain, grasping both his shoulders tightly.

"Malik!" Marik called out worriedly. He rushed over to him and tried to help him sit up. As soon as he touched him, Malik gasped; the burning stopped. Marik heard him gasp and wasn't sure if he hurt him or not. "Malik?" he asked worried. Malik looked up at him; still gasping. There were tears in his eyes.

"Dad…" he whispered. "It hurts…"

"What does?" Marik asked

"My back…" Malik whined. "It burns!" Marik slowly pulled up Malik's shirt, trying not to put him in anymore pain. His eyes widened in horror at what he saw. There defiantly burns on Malik's back, but unlike the ones on Yugi's chest, these didn't make an X. Instead, they made more of a cross. Once burn strip when from the bottom on his neck to the waistband of his pants and the other was right in the middle, going across. Swallowing nervously, Marik put Malik's shirt down and tried to help him out of bed.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

"I don't know…" Malik answered, looking at his father worriedly. What Marik did next surprised Malik; he picked him up bridal style and carried him to his own bedroom. He put Malik on his bed and told him to lie down on his stomach. Malik obeyed and watched his father disappeared into the bathroom. Malik looked around the room; he had never really been in his father's room before. He had always been told it was 'off limits', and he could see why. His father had several stacks of papers and two filing cabinets in his room. The papers were everywhere, yet neatly stacked; messy, but organized. He looked towards the bathroom again when he heard his father's footsteps. Marik was holding a bottle of lotion. He sat on the bed next to Malik and raised his shirt.

"This is similar to the stuff I gave Yugi," he explained as he opened it. "Only a bit stronger." He began to rub some on Malik's burns. Malik hissed in pain and balled his fists tightly. Eventually, he got used to it. He occupied himself by looking around his father's room, seeing if he could find anything else that was interesting…all he say was more paperwork.

"I didn't know being a doctor required so much paperwork." he said.

"You have no idea," Marik said with a huff. "First, you have to get all the personal information to start a file, then you have to check with the insurance. If it's all covered, great. If it's only partly covered, you have to explain to the patient what is covered; and they nod their head like they understand. After the surgery, they wanna know why the cost is do high and you waste your breath explaining it again, and they go on and on about how you cheated them and they'll sue."

"What if they don't have insurance?" Malik asked, already smiling at the sarcastic tone in his father's voice.

"Those are the best cases," Marik said. "Most hospitals won't take you if you don't have any and the ones that do usually aren't very good…but mine is an exception." He sighed. "The paper work is always fun."

"So," Malik continued. "What do you do?"

"We try to help them get insurance before we do the surgery, but if we can't then we'll have to give them the big bill." Marik sighed. "And if that happens, we have a chance of going to court charged with 'illegal actions'." Marik rolled his eyes at his own words. Malik giggled.

"So it's defiantly not the patients keeping you there?" he asked.

"I'm not a doctor if I don't have patients," Marik reminded with a smile. "But they are one of the low percentages."

"It's the money?"

"Yep," Marik paused for a moment. "After a while, you kinda get sick of hearing your patients' complainants." Malik giggled again.

"What's your favorite kind of surgery?"

"Harvest," Marik answered. Malik fell into a confused silence. "Organ donation surgery," Marik explained. "There's a time-limit to get the organs out; it gives me a rush." Malik smiled. Marik did as well and put Malik's shirt down. "There," he said. He closed the bottle and Malik sat up with a sigh.

"Thanks dad," he said. Marik smiled. He wrapped one arm gently around Malik's shoulders and hugged him, giving him another kiss on the forehead. Malik giggled softly.

"I love you son," Marik whispered to him. Malik looked up at him in slight surprise. He had known this was true, but hearing felt better. He smiled.

"I love you too dad!" He hugged him tightly. Marik smiled.

"Come on," he said. "I have to get back to bed. I have work tomorrow." Malik nodded; he started to get off of Marik's bed, but Marik stopped him. "You can stay with me tonight." Malik smiled widely.

"Thanks dad." he said, crawling in bed. Marik only smiled. They both crawled into bed and fell asleep.

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Marik was in a good mood the next morning, but he wasn't about to show it as he walked down the hall of the hospital. The last thing he needed was for the interns to kiss up to him. He looked over his papers and saw he had patient waiting in an appointment room. Thankfully that room was on his current floor. He headed for the room and opened it with his back, since he was more focused on the papers on his clipboard. When he looked up to see which of his patients it was, he nearly died from shock.

"Mrs. Mouto!" he said. Seigyoku and Seimei looked up at him.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Nothing," Marik said, quickly covering his tracks. "I'm just surprised to see you." Seigyoku blinked, even more confused.

"You said you wanted to see Seimei after a few days."

"Right," Marik said. He walked over to the examination table and looked over Seimei. "Is your head bothering you?" Seimei shook her head, giving no verbal reply. It was then Marik notice the sadness in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Sorry," Seigyoku said. "She's just been a little bit down lately."

"Has anything been bothering her?" Marik asked, turning to Seigyoku. He already knew the answer, but Seigyoku didn't know that.

"I miss daddy!" Seimei said, glaring lightly at her mother.

"I know sweetie," Seigyoku said, stepping towards her. "But―!" A knock at the door interrupted her. Marik opened it; two nurses were there.

"Sorry to interrupt," the blonde said.

"But some strange case just arrived," The brunette said.

"Some boy fainted during a baptism." The blonde replied. Marik blinked.

"I'll be there in a minute." he informed. They both nodded.

"Maybe he saw the light," the brunette whispered, both laughing as they walked off. Seigyoku gave a look of concern as the nurses walked off, joking with other religious puns.

"There's no way…" she thought nervously.

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This chapter was basically to show how the characters are changing. You saw in the last chapter Yami was becoming more strict with Yugi; now you got a taste of how Marik is lightening up with Malik. Do you know how hard it is to type a conversation between Marik and Malik? You really have to watch the L's and throw the reader off if you're not careful! I read this chapter over several times, making sure I didn't screw up anywhere….but I'm bad at correcting my own work….Well, let me know what you guys think! Lots of love!