~Susy~

Susy laid in her bed looking at the ceiling. After running away from Marik, she had managed to find her room. Honestly, she was beginning to believe that either she was starting to memorize this labyrinth or the lack of light was having some weird side-effects.

When she had arrived, almost immediately after a Steve had come and told her that she wasn't allowed out until further notice. Must be Marik's poor attempt to buckle down on her she supposed. She didn't really see the point, but if it shut him up then so be it.

What did bother her however, was how dull it was. Boredom was becoming a chronic problem. At the very least she had to have some sort of entertainment. A sigh left her lips. Even though she was pretty sure it would be completely fruitless, it was better than just laying there.

She reached under her bed and pulled out her abandoned purse. Unzipping it she carelessly emptied its contents in front of her. She scattered out the random items so they were on display better.

First she picked up her cell-phone. Unsurprisingly it was dead, and would stay that way unless she could get her hands on a charger. Second she picked up her back-up MP3 player. It was in the graveyard too. She continued to rummage through the small pile until there was nothing left. Just as she predicted, there wasn't anything of interest. She picked everything up and crammed it back into the bag, then tossed that back under the bed.

This was just plain cruel. Stick a girl, or any person for that matter, into a room like this with nothing to do and you can't blame them for wanting out.

"Just stay calm Susy; you've had enough of that fool for one day." She tried to reassure herself. Falling back on her new hobby, she got up and began to pace. Her hands went to wipe her shirt and when they did she stopped. The thought that she was still currently in sticky sweat-ridden clothes had blissfully gone away until now.

Susy was just plain agitated. She could find ways to occupy herself, but she wasn't going to continuously wallow in her own filth like all these other lackeys.

She decided this was a good enough excuse to let herself out again. Of all things, he should understand this problem. She went to the door and held her ear to it and got nothing, so she promptly picked open the lock. The coast was clear and she let herself out.

'Now where would he be?' She contemplated on where to check first. Usually she didn't have to manually look for him, he just annoyingly popped up on his own. The smell of food greeted itself to her nose. She sniffed the air and her stomach rumbled. 'Sent me to bed without dinner, huh?'

Her footsteps echoed the halls as she made her way to the dining hall. She figured that Marik should be there too, so might as well. The doors opened and the aroma of burnt meat and body odor burned her nose. Reluctantly she made her way to the table and started to eat right away. The quicker she was out the better.

While she chewed her mystery meat she looked around for Marik. He wasn't at his High-Chair, aka eating throne, and if he was in the crowd there'd be a scene. Susy shrugged it off and finished her meal.

After she was done she made a beeline for the door. She stopped in her tracks when she saw her assigned Steve. If he saw her, she'd have to go back to her room. Thinking fast, she made another beeline for the pile of robes she discovered a couple days ago at the spider incident. Finding the cleanest smelling one she threw it on. The now cloaked Susy raised her hood and made it out of the room with ease.

"Phew, that was close." She whispered to herself as the doors shut. Unfortunately, she still had the problem of Marik. She decided to check his throne room.

While walking there, she heard voices running in her direction. Problem was, it was a one-way hall! She started to panic and just stood there. To her horror they came into view; but then just ran right past her. She was promptly confused until she looked down. The hooded cloak still covered her completely. Perfect disguise.

Susy smirked and continued her search. Before long she found the Grand Hall and sneakily peeked inside. Still no Marik. She frowned and made haste to the only room left; his bedroom.

The cloak did its job and saved her from having to avoid quite a few Steves. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but it seemed like more Steves than usual were roaming the halls. She just pushed it aside for some other time.

About halfway to his room Susy's mind started to wonder. Marik sure worked in strange ways. He wasn't as sweet and innocent as she imagined. His tactics were definitely surprising. He hadn't even thought twice before he used the womanizer card on Janice. It started troubling her that she herself was the same. Right from the start he had used the charm tactic.

To him was she no different than any other girl? No, that can't be right. For Janice that was part of his job…he couldn't be interested in her. She had something he wanted so he had to do whatever necessary to get it; that's all it was. Susy's insecurity started to blend with her jealously.

'I'm different. I'm something new. I have an advantage. He has interest in me, I offer him entertainment.' She huffed, 'At the very least I intrigue him. Enough that he doesn't want to do away with me.' A smile curled her lips. 'Frankly I think I'm growing onto him. He doesn't hate me and I'm pretty sure he's having more fun than he lets on. There's no way he thinks I'm just another girl.'

Her confidence brimmed as she convinced herself of her own uniqueness. A few turns later she came upon the Purple Doors of Doom. Going into stealth mode, she crept up to the door and put her ear to it. There was only silence. This time that wasn't the answer she wanted. Slowly she creaked open the door and looked inside. He wasn't in there.

An exasperated sigh escaped her mouth and she slouched against the wall. Where else could he be? 'Maybe he's roaming the halls.' She thought. Susy decided that she would let some time pass then recheck the rooms. In the meantime she would just walk around.

Going back to the "Random Turns" strategy, she aimlessly roamed the halls. Walking became snooping and eventually a silent challenge was issued to herself to find as many rooms as possible. She kept a mental tally of how many storage rooms she found versus sleeping rooms.

This kept her quite occupied until she got distracted by a few out-of-place noises. Silencing her movement she tried to hear it again. On cue she heard similar noises from the same direction. Curious, she began to follow her ears to the source. The farther she went the clearer they got. The initial sound was a soft rhythmic "thump…thump", and as she got closer she could make out a voice.

Susy took one last turn and saw a pair of gold-colored double-doors. They weren't as grand as the other pairs, but they still looked important. Shuffling to the door she put her ear to it. A familiar voice became distinct.

"You made this a lot more difficult with that stunt you know." Marik said, followed by a "thump". There was silence they he said, "I had everything ready to trade but you had to waste our time by breaking our deal." Another "thump".

Susy was confused. It sounded like he was talking to someone, but who? She examined over the doors and saw a key hole. Getting down on her knees she peeked through it.

The room looked like an office. There were cabinets, a marker-board, knick-knacks, everything an office would have. Facing the door was a big fancy desk, and behind it Marik sat in a spinning-chair. He was turned around facing the wall with a phone up to his ear. The thumping she had heard was him throwing a ball at the wall, catching it, and then throwing it again.

"Well I can't help it if you don't trust me Janice." He sneered into the phone.

'So he got the guts to call her back, huh? This outta be interesting.' Susy snickered to herself.

"Fine, I can't help if you're too scared to check for yourself."

THUMP… THUMP

"Neither of us are common crooks. If you were clever enough to catch a scam, then we could've come to a different agreement."

THUMP

"You're over-reacting. I didn't try to steal them, did I?"…. "That haul was definitely equal in value. I don't know where you get the idea it wasn't."

He dropped the ball and got up to retrieve it. She could see that he was getting quite annoyed. But of course, his concentration/annoyance face looked pretty cute.

"What would make you trust her?"

Susy guessed they were talking about her. She started to become uneasy.

"She looked trustworthy? You don't even know who she is!"

THUMP…THUMP

"Little late to ask don't you think?"

THUMP

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Her name is Susy. She's just some stupid prisoner who begged me to let her be a slave. She has no brains and is foolish enough to think I give a damn about her. That idiotic birdbrain is so ignorant that she actually believes she's an equal to me."

Susy felt her heart drop.

"Why do I keep her around?" He paused for a moment. "…Because I obviously need some girl that can serve as a bargaining chip. Or when she becomes brainwashed enough I can have her do my dirty work. All she is to me is a pawn whose mind I've merely kept more bendable to my whim."

Tears threatened to spill out of Susy's eyes. She slumped against the wall and stared at her hands. This couldn't be happening. That's what he really thinks? All this time…he was using her.

Susy burst into a run. She had to get away from that room and the monster in it. It didn't matter where she went, just as long it was away from him. Maybe if she got away it wouldn't be real. Maybe this was all a huge misunderstanding. Maybe this was all a dream or just one of Marik's tricks…anything but real.

Tears streamed down her face as she ran up to her door. She fumbled to get it open and ran in, slamming it shut. The bed squeaked as she climbed on and hugged her pillow. Loud sobs were muffled by the cushion.

'How could I be so stupid?! This whole time that bastard was just toying with me. He doesn't even give a damn! I mean absolutely nothing to him except as a fucking plaything. He thinks I'm just a stupid worthless girl.' She ravaged in her mind.

Susy laid there hiding from the world under the robe. She wanted to believe that this was just a nightmare; that her ultimate crush and also rival didn't think of her as complete trash. No matter what though, she couldn't lie to herself. She knew what she heard, and the seriousness in his voice. This was how it really was, and had been all along.

Inside her emotions boiled. Her sadness and depression was starting to turn to rage and anger. In her eyes, Marik was now just a heartless son-of-a-bitch. She wasn't going to take it like this. He would pay for thinking he could lead her on.

With fists clenched she dried her tears and began to pace, thinking of how to get him back. Ideas came and went but none seemed good enough. Although she was dead-set on payback, when she ran over the memories of the past few days, she shrunk. Were all those snarky comebacks and playful insults really fake? She couldn't make herself fully believe they were.

She thought of that afternoon and how he had reacted. The whole time, he didn't seem mad at the fact she just ruined his deal; he just seemed irritated that she had out-smarted him. Like an actual rival.

Susy sat at the edge of her bed and sulked. She was about to start crying again when it hit her. She sprang up with a huge smile and started pacing again.

It was obvious. How could she have missed it? If she could pull it off, he wouldn't stand a chance. She would have him begging for forgiveness at her feet. An unnaturally strong want for revenge along with other chaotic emotions flooded through her. This was perfect. It was so simple. She would turn the tables. She would be the thief.

She would steal the Millennium Rod.

PLOT-TWIST! In other news IM SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR GETTING THIS DONE SO SOON! My reason for which is because I'm a huge procrastinator, so when I get things done early, ITS A BIG DEAL! XD Anyway, I actually kinda like this one. (Then again that may be the happiness talking) However, I am sorry that there really isn't any fangirl moments in this one. I will attempt to make up for it next chapter, but I'm not sure...(this came out more serious than expected .) Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed it! WILL SUSY GET HER REVENGE?! As always, thanks a butt-load for the support and comments, It makes me so happy to read your guys' feedback. Well, that's about it for now so BROOKLYN RAGE, wait wrong catchphrase, PEACE OUT!