Title: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 11) – Three Heads Are Better Than None
Pairing: Ryou x Marik, Ryou x Yami Marik (of a sort
Rating: M
Summary: Banishing part of Marik's soul to the Shadow Realm had more consequences than anyone realized. Two years post-series, Marik's dark side resurfaces with unclear goals and an unnerving focus on Ryou.
After about a minute or so, Ryou lifted his head from his hands, no more clear on how to explain the situation than he had been the minute before. He looked at Marik's sleeping form on the couch and wondered how much his friend would want him to say. They already know more than he wanted them to, but at this point we just can't keep them in the dark anymore.
Ryou wished he knew how Ishizu and Odion would react to the information – he had the semi-irrational fear that he might say something that would ruin Marik's relationships with his siblings forever. Ryou's own father had all but abandoned him when the spirit had started causing trouble, after all. But Ishizu and Odion aren't like my father, Ryou reminded himself. Odion stayed with him knowing he'd killed someone, and he even followed Marik all the way through his insane revenge scheme. Ishizu didn't give up on him either. What's happening right now can't be any worse than what they've already gone through together.
Ryou sighed, then looked up at Odion's patient face. "Er. How much did Yugi tell you?"
"He said that Marik's dark side had returned, and that Marik had gone missing," the man replied. He sounded calm, but his eyes were focused sharply on Ryou. "He implied that it wasn't the first incident."
"No," Ryou acknowledged. "It wasn't."
"He's disappeared like that in the past?" Odion asked.
"Huh?" Ryou replied. "Oh. No, he's never gone off like that before," Ryou clarified, starting to realize just how little Yugi had actually told them. No wonder they were so frantic. Then again, I wasn't exactly much calmer. "I meant that his dark side came back a while ago."
"When?" Odion asked, giving Marik's sleeping form a concerned glance before returning his focus to Ryou.
"Um. October?" Ryou replied, as though he couldn't quite believe it himself.
Odion's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "October?"
"October," Ryou replied, more firmly this time.
A series of emotions flashed across Odion's face before it returned to its normal expression. Ryou was expecting him to demand to know why Marik hadn't told him, or why Ryou himself hadn't told anyone, given how serious the situation was, but the demand didn't come. I suppose it's fairly obvious to him why Marik wouldn't want to say anything, Ryou thought.
"How often?" Odion asked instead, tone as level as ever.
"It's hard to say," Ryou said, wondering if he should mention the records he'd been keeping. I haven't even told Marik about that, he thought. I'll keep it to myself for now. I can always mention it later, if necessary. "He doesn't come out on a consistent schedule."
Odion nodded, as though he'd already thought as much. "But it has happened more than once?"
"Yes," Ryou agreed.
"Were you there the first time he reappeared?" Odion asked. The look he gave Ryou wasn't accusing, but it wasn't very comforting, either.
Ryou tried not squirm under the intense gaze. He didn't like having that much attention focused on him; it never seemed to lead anywhere good. "Yes," he said quietly, taking a moment to be glad that Yugi and Joey hadn't returned yet. Having them looking to him for an explanation of the situation as well would have been even worse.
"What happened?" Odion asked.
"Er." Ryou took a deep breath. "We were at the apartment..." Ryou gave a brief explanation of the incident. He told Odion about the wrestling and how it led up to the bite, but he left out any personal speculation about why Marik's dark side might have emerged at that particular moment, or why he may wanted to bite Ryou.
"He bit you?" Odion asked. His eyes drifted away from Ryou's face as he appeared to consider what he'd just been told.
"Yes," Ryou said.
Odion frowned. "Did my brother feel threatened by you while you were wrestling?" He looked Ryou over for a second, seeming to find the answer to his question before Ryou could even respond.
"I don't think so," Ryou said. "He... um, the other him, I mean... once told me that Marik could overpower me any time he wanted to."
Ryou was surprised at the sudden sharp looks from both Ishizu and Odion.
"He spoke to you?" Ishizu asked.
"Not that first time," Ryou explained, wondering if he'd said something wrong. Are they angry at me for trying to talk to him, or just surprised that it happened at all? Ryou wondered. "But some of the other times..." Ryou summarized not-Marik's other appearances as succinctly as possible. He glanced from Odion to Ishizu as he spoke, feeling especially nervous about Ishizu's possible response to the shirt-ripping. She already seems to know how I feel, he thought, remembering the conversation they'd had not all that long ago. What would she think about Marik's possible feelings?
But neither Ishizu or Odion seemed to have come to the conclusion Ryou had, and something else took up far more of their attention than not-Marik's apparent obsession with Ryou's clothing. "He appeared in our house?" Ishizu repeated, after Ryou had finished telling them about the last time Marik's dark side had emerged.
Ryou nodded. "Only for a minute or so. He was after my shirt again." He didn't feel the need to inform them about what happened afterward, though he couldn't repress the blush that came at the memory.
Odion took in the blush, then caught Ryou's eye. "What else?" he asked plainly.
"Nothing else," Ryou said, feeling the unpleasant, weighty sensation he always experienced when dancing around a secret. Normally he'd try to change the topic of conversation, since it was the easiest way to avoid accidentally giving something away, but he could tell that neither Ishizu nor Odion was about to let that happen any time soon.
Odion frowned again, seeming unsatisfied with the response. "Did he try to leave the room?"
"No," Ryou replied. "He just sort of... um... collapsed on top of me," he added, turning even more red. He wanted to avert his eyes, but he felt that it would make him look even more suspicious.
"And then...?" Odion prodded, clearly thinking there had to be more to it for Ryou to have had such a strong reaction.
"Er. Well. H-he was already asleep, s-so..." Ryou trailed off. He really, really didn't want to go into what had happened later. His whole body felt like it was on fire just from the thought of it, and he didn't think he could handle any more embarrassment. Not to mention how Marik might feel about them hearing about it, Ryou thought.
"You left him where he was?" Ishizu finished, seeming to take pity on him.
Ryou nodded gratefully. He glanced at her face and saw that she appeared satisfied with the explanation. She seemed to accept the accidental sleeping arrangement as something that would lead to Ryou's current awkwardness around the topic, without needing to press him for further details about it.
Odion, however, clearly didn't agree with her. He looked confused for a moment, as though he didn't see why Ryou would react so strongly to the memory of Marik simply falling asleep on top of him. It probably didn't help that Ryou had described every other incident, except maybe the licking, with far less obvious embarrassment than he was showing right then. Odion looked at Ryou appraisingly.
Ryou did his best to look normal.
Odion shook his head slowly, as though he still didn't see what all the fuss was about, but he did think Ryou might be strange enough to get that worked over something so minor. "And you don't have any idea what has been drawing out his dark side?"
Ryou shook his head, no more willing to reveal his theory about that than he was to reveal what had happened after he and Marik fell asleep together.
"You hadn't done anything to harm Marik before the first incident?" Odion asked. He didn't sound like he actually suspected Ryou of having done such a thing – it sounded more like he wanted to rule it out.
"No," Ryou replied. He'd gone over the possibility in his mind so many times over the past few months that he could answer the question immediately.
"Tell us more about what happened today," Odion said.
"Um." Oddly, Ryou had a more difficult time recalling what had happened today than he'd had with every other time. He'd gone over the other incidents in his mind multiple times and could easily describe them in detail. But he'd gotten so caught up in the search for Marik after he'd gone missing that he'd given very little thought to what had happened before Marik's dark side had run off. "Yugi probably already told you most of it. Marik's dark side came out while we were out of the room, ripped up Yugi's books, then left through the window. We didn't take time to look more closely," Ryou said. "We could do it now," he added, though he gave Marik's sleeping form a concerned glance.
"I'll stay with Marik," Ishizu volunteered.
"Thank you," Ryou replied, feeling relieved that someone would be there to keep an eye on Marik. Even if his dark side isn't likely to reappear soon, we shouldn't leave him to wake up alone, wondering how he got to where he is and why he's injured. Ryou got to his feet, then turned to Odion. "I'll show you where it happened."
Ryou led Odion to Yugi's room. He picked up a few of the papers that had blown out of the room earlier, then went inside. "The window was open. He was already gone by the time we came back," Ryou said. He looked at the torn pages in his hand and was unsurprised by the subject matter. Books about Egypt. Just like last time.
Odion knelt down on the ground and picked up a few pages himself. He didn't say anything, but Ryou thought he was probably coming to similar conclusions about what had angered Marik's dark side this time.
Ryou looked around the room, trying to fit the incident into the larger pattern of events. "It's the first time he's destroyed anyone's property aside from mine," Ryou thought aloud.
Odion interrupted him. "No, it isn't."
Ryou blinked in surprise. "It isn't?" he asked, wondering what he'd missed. Has he been appearing more often than I realized? Ryou wondered. But Odion didn't seem to realize he'd even returned until today...
But Odion meant something entirely different. "He did things like this soon after he came into existence. When he still wasn't strong enough to attack our father."
"Oh," Ryou replied. He hesitated for a moment, then asked the question at the front of his mind. "Do... do you think he's likely to do something like that again?"
"I don't know," Odion said. He stood, then looked at Ryou seriously. "But you are in the most danger."
"Me?" Ryou said, with more surprise than he knew was warranted. Of course it would be me. I'm the only one who's even seen him, aside from the lady who caused him to faint.
Odion's thoughts echoed his. "You are the one he's focused on so far. You're also the only one he's attacked directly since his return."
"You mean the bite?" Ryou asked.
Odion nodded, but he seemed a little puzzled. "I'm not sure what it means. The bite is strange behavior for him."
"It... is?" Ryou asked slowly, not seeing it as strange behavior at all. If anything, it fit in perfectly with everything Ryou knew about Marik's dark side. "I thought the, uh, l-licking was stranger."
The expression on Odion's face showed that he agreed with Ryou on that point. "They are both strange," Odion acknowledged. "But I meant it's strange that he attacked you, but didn't kill you outright."
Ryou froze. "But... he doesn't have that ability yet. Does he?"
"I don't know," Odion said, rubbing his chin. "The first person he ever attacked was our father. He killed him during that first opportunity. There was no in-between, where he attacked someone without killing them."
"O-oh." Ryou felt a spike of fear, which he tried to convince himself was unjustified. "Doesn't that suggest that he doesn't want to kill me?" Ryou asked lamely.
Odion was silent for a moment. "Maybe," he said finally. "This isn't a situation that's happened before." Odion paused. "He told you that you annoy him?" he asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Yeah," Ryou said, unable to forget the incident. He'd gone over the possible meanings of 'annoy' in light of his new theory plenty of times in the past couple of weeks, but hadn't come to a satisfactory conclusion about what Marik's dark side had meant. He was fairly clear on what Marik himself had been feeling, but he didn't think that necessarily meant his dark side had been feeling the same thing. I... would hope not, he thought warily, imagining Marik's dark side lusting over him. He cringed at the idea. It's more likely that he's just angry with me for how I make Marik feel, Ryou assured himself.
"But he didn't say that he hated you," Odion said. "Or wanted to kill you."
"No, I don't think he did," Ryou said, after thinking it over for a moment. "Is that important?"
"I hope so," Odion said quietly. He turned his attention back to the room, surveying the mess.
Ryou followed his line of vision, noticing for the first time that Marik's dark side had destroyed more than books. "The artifacts," he said softly, picking one up from where it had been thrown to the floor. It was a small statue of an Egyptian god – though it was a little difficult to tell which one now that the head was missing.
He looked around some more, seeing several suspicious lumps under the papers scattered around the room. Ryou winced. He still had no intention of becoming an archaeologist, but the horror he felt at seeing priceless artifacts destroyed had been instilled in him at a very young age. He really shouldn't have been keeping these in his room, Ryou thought. Even without our current problem, they could still have been easily damaged here.
"Let me see that," Odion said.
Ryou handed him the statue.
Odion looked at it from several angles. "Ra."
"You can tell?" Ryou asked. "Even without the head?"
"It's one of ours," Odion replied. "Ishizu lent it to him."
Ryou winced again, though he thought Odion was taking the destruction of one of their artifacts extraordinarily well. I suppose it's better that Marik's dark side destroyed one of his own family's artifacts instead of someone else's, but still. "Are the others yours, too?"
"Most likely," Odion said. "But I will have to see to be certain."
Ryou nodded, and started gathering up the papers on the floor. Odion joined him, and they soon had the ripped pages in a neat pile out of the way, making it easy to see the rest of the damage. There were a few broken bowls and several more broken statues at various points on the floor. In wordless agreement, Ryou and Odion gathered up the broken bits and pieces and set on the desk.
They piled the broken pottery shards in one corner of the desk, then laid the statues out on the rest of the surface. When they were finished, Ryou noticed something a little odd. There were six statues in total, all broken, but only half had all their pieces present and accounted for. He recognized the three as Ma'at, Thoth, and Osiris respectively. "The heads on these are still missing," he said, pointing to the other three statues, including the one Odion had said to be Ra.
"They may be somewhere else in the room," Odion replied.
They continued looking for the heads, without success. After several minutes, Yugi appeared in the doorway, looking winded, but relieved. "Hey, guys," he said. "I'm glad you found Marik. We were having no luck at all."
"Where's Joey?" Ryou asked.
"He's with Marik and Ishizu," Yugi replied. "He's kind of upset that we didn't tell him earlier."
"Is Marik awake?" Odion asked, looking ready to head out the door that very moment.
Yugi shook his head. "Not yet. He looks comfortable, at least." Yugi noticed the state of the room. "Wow! You didn't have to clean up for me, but thanks!"
"We were trying to work out what happened," Ryou explained. "He broke most of the artifacts, and we're still looking for several of the heads."
Yugi looked at the statues on the desk and sighed. "So, the heads of Hathor, Sekmet, and Ra are still missing," he said, casting his gaze out over the room. "Maybe they rolled under something," he added, looking under the bed. Ryou and Odion helped him pull out various boxes of junk to get a better look, but none of them could see the heads anywhere.
Odion and Yugi continued searching the room, but Ryou took another look at the statues on the desk. Something seemed odd about the way they'd broken.
The three complete statues were broken in completely different ways, as though they'd been thrown haphazardly and shattered irregularly on impact. The three headless statues, however, were all broken in largely the same way, as though the intent had actually been to break the heads off. "Um." Ryou cleared his throat. "Do you think he might have taken the heads on purpose?"
Yugi spoke up first. "Why would he do that?"
"We don't know why he does anything," Ryou pointed out. "Maybe he had reason to hate those gods more than the others?"
"It's possible," Odion agreed. He then walked out the door without another word.
I think I understand his thought processes even less than I understand Marik's, Ryou thought to himself as he and Yugi followed Odion back to the living room.
Odion nodded to Joey, then went over to Marik and pulled the blanket down. Ryou finally grasped what he intended when he started fishing around in Marik's pockets.
Ryou saw Joey looking at him and realized he'd forgotten to greet him. "Hi, Joey," he said brightly, hoping it made up for his momentary impoliteness. He tried not to be put down by the look Joey was giving him. Ryou understood why Joey was upset, but it didn't make things any easier. Ishizu and Odion have far more reason to be angry, but they aren't reacting this way.
"Hi," Joey said. He looked frustrated, like he wanted to punch something, but the particular something he wanted to punch wasn't available at the moment.
Ryou hoped the look was meant for Marik's dark side and not Marik himself.
"They aren't here," Odion said, once he'd finished searching all of Marik's pockets.
"What's not here?" Joey asked.
"The statue heads," Yugi said. He filled both Ishizu and Joey in on the missing heads.
"What would anybody want with a bunch of heads?" Joey asked.
Marik chose that moment stir in his sleep. Ryou walked over to him, standing at his side next to Odion. Everyone looked at Marik expectantly. He mumbled something, then reached out with one fumbling hand. His hand encountered Odion's arm first. That apparently wasn't what Marik wanted, and so the hand quickly moved on, finding Ryou's arm next. Marik sighed contentedly, pulling Ryou down on top of him and hugging him like a teddy bear.
"Ah! Marik," Ryou said, very conscious of the four pairs of eyes staring at them at the moment. He turned red at the thought of various things Marik might do in his sleep that other people really shouldn't be seeing. He tried to escape from Marik's grip, but it was surprisingly strong. I guess he really is stronger than I am. He must consciously hold back most of the time.
The thought wasn't very helpful.
"Um. I can't move," Ryou said quietly.
"Here," Joey said, pulling on Marik's arms in an attempt to free him.
Marik muttered something indignantly in his sleep, and pulled Ryou even closer. Joey stepped back, looking at his own hands as though wondering how they'd suddenly become so weak in relation to Marik's.
Ryou glanced at Odion plaintively and saw the man looking back at him like he thought he finally understood what Ryou had been so embarrassed about during their earlier conversation. Ryou wasn't about to contradict him if that was the case. Odion gently pulled Ryou free of Marik's grip and set him down just out of Marik's reach.
Marik grumbled, but settled back down.
"How long is he going to sleep, anyway?" Joey asked.
"The longer his dark side is present, the more it takes out of him," Ishizu replied. "He was in control for a fairly long time today."
"What are we going to do when he wakes up?" Yugi asked, looking at Marik in concern.
"He will come home with us," Odion replied, pulling the blanket back up over Marik's body.
"What?" Ryou asked, unable to keep the distress out of his voice. He didn't want to be alone again. The thought of staying in an empty apartment for the first time in months upset him even more than he would have thought.
Ishizu looked at him with a certain amount of sympathy. "He can't stay with you. Based on what you've said, his dark side comes out most often when the two of you are in your apartment together." At Ryou's distraught look, she put a hand on his arm and continued. "We aren't saying you won't ever see him again. We're only saying that he can't stay in the place where his dark side most consistently appears."
Ryou swallowed, then nodded. "That makes sense," he admitted, though he still hated the plan.
Ishizu rubbed his arm, then pulled her hand away.
"You could stay here for a while," Yugi offered, seeing the look on Ryou's face.
Ryou lowered his eyes. In the past he might have protested the offer, not wanting to impose on anyone, but he'd gotten too used to having someone around to object too much in this case. "Would it really be okay?" he asked. "Your grandfather..."
"I'm sure he'll agree," Yugi replied swiftly.
"All right," Ryou said. "If he agrees..."
Ishizu and Odion ended up taking Marik home while he was still asleep, which in its own way Ryou thought might be for the best. He won't be able to object to the plan, this way. We can see him tomorrow, once he's woken up.
Yugi's grandfather agreed readily to having Ryou in the house for a while, saying that he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted.
Ryou decided not to go back to the apartment for his things until the next day, since it was already getting late. He took Marik's place on the couch for the night. As he fell asleep, he realized that they still hadn't found the statue heads, but the thought soon mutated into a bizarre dream about giant, headless statues roaming Domino City, and then left his mind entirely.