Chapter Twelve: Down with the Sickness
Melvin woke up, it being just about sunrise, and sighed as he looked to find Tamara looking up at him.
"Good morning." He laughed, and she smiled back.
"Hey." Her voice sounded hoarse, and Melvin frowned.
"Are you alright?" He asked, and Tamara's heart beat slow as she realized his face got closer. She cleared her throat, and spoke again.
"Yeah, are you?"
"Yeah, I was just worried about you..."
"For what?" She asked, and then it came back to her, her head suddenly weighing a million pounds.
She dropped her head as it pounded in pain, and closed her eyes.
"It just hit you, didn't it? Yeah, THAT was what I was worried about. Why...Why did you agree to do that to yourself? I.." Melvin stopped, sighing,and Tamara looked down at herself, finding she was wearing Melvin's shirt. She blushed a little bit, and looked up to him.
"I'm wearing your shirt?" She looked to his chest, which she was laying on, and blinked a few times.
"You don't remember anything from last night, do you?" He asked, and she blushed again her eyes widening.
"Should I?" Melvin gave her a funny look, but laughed a little, looking away.
"Not really. You know, you only married me..." He smiled, looking to her as her eyes widened. She quickly looked to her hand, finding no ring and then back to him.
"I-I-I-NO!" She almost yelled, and Melvin laughed, speaking up.
"I was kidding. Calm down Mara." He smiled, putting a hand on hers. She pulled it away, glaring up at him.
"That wasn't funny."
"I'm sorry...But last night, I really don't expect you to remember...You went out to party with Marik and Bakura...You all got drunk. You were the most drunk, and went crazy...You threw your shirt into the crowd, your shoes into the crowd, and were dancing on tables...I'm not sure what all that intoxication did to the Phoenix..." Melvin sighed, obviously upset.
Tamara went wide eyed.
"The last thing I remember...Is taking shots." She said, and Melvin slapped his forehead.
"What did you drink?"
"I'm not even sure..." She blinked a few times trying to remember, and Melvin spoke up again.
"Alright, well, I've got to go..." He started to get up.
"Where? Why?" She asked, grabbing his arm and wrapping her arm around it. He slid out of her grip and she wrapped her arms and legs around his leg. He sighed.
"Akefia can't know Tamara...He can't know you were drunk, and he can't know that I stay here at night with you." Tamara tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
She didn't want him gone, she didn't want him to leave now. She held on tighter, and Melvin tensed up, grinding his teeth.
"Tamara...That hurts..." He sounded strained, and she looked up to him, but he had his eyes closed as she looked down to her marks burning bright.
She let go immediately.
"I'm so sorry!" She whispered, looking up to him, and he gave her a weary smile.
"It's alright...It's not like you won't seem me again." He patted her head, and walked out of the room.
She looked to the shut door, and frowned to herself. Sure, she would see him during the day, but not like at night. It was the whole reason she fought of sleep, the whole reason she actually slept.
Nonetheless, she got into her pajamas and snuggled in her blankets, sleeping for just a while longer.
Akefia breathed silently in his dark room, thinking.
There was another mission today, but he couldn't bring everyone...But in a way, he had to. Without all of them, they were weak. Right now, they were a perfect team, in balance with what the other was missing, covering almost all of the bases of what they needed. And now with Tamara, they had extra power. She would be useful for brute force from above, but he still wondered all the Phoenix could do.
He'd have to experiment.
Akefia got up, and walked over to his desk, his hand carefully finding the lamp, turning it on, and opening the second drawer.
He took out the picture, holding it in his hands, and sighed.
He looked at it, a sad smile on his face, shaky as he started tearing up. He wished to see her...But that wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. Besides, now he had Tamara...
He walked outside, looking up to the still visible moon, and sighed.
"Akefia." A voice came from behind that Akefia all too well."
"You've come for a visit?" He asked, not turning, but smiling.
"A short one. I don't want the others to see me right now, but I came to see you."
"I feel so special." He chuckled, turning to his friend.
"What can I do for you?" He asked, and walked into the forest.
A little while after their goodbye's, Akefia realized that it was almost time for their mission. He looked to the facility, walking in, finding almost everyone ready.
Except Melvin.
"Where's Melvin?"
"Melvin? I thought he was in his room..."Ryou looked away from his conversation with Tamara, and pointed to Melvin's hallway.
Akefia walked to Melvin's room, and knocked on the door, entering the room after he got no reply.
"Melvin?" He peered in the dark room, and saw the familiar yellow eyes look back from the bed.
"Hmm?"
"We have a mission today...Are you feeling up to it?"
"No." Melvin's voice sounded hoarse, and Akefia nodded.
"Alright." He shut the door and walked to the others.
"Melvin's not coming today...So, let's get a move on."
"Why does he get to stay? If we ever complained to be sick, you'd make us go."
"For starters, Melvin never backs out like this. And secondly, he's got a real excuse for being sick. You never do."
That shut Bakura up, and they were on their way.
"Tamara to your left!" Marik yelled, and she swerved away from a poisonous dart. She heaved a sigh of relief, and looked to Akefia, who gritted his teeth.
"Alright team, fall in!" Akefia called on the radio connection they all had in their ears, and everyone landed near him in the human forest.
"Tamara, what's up? You're reactions are delayed."
"Just tired..." She said, which was the truth, aside from being hung over.
"Tamara go home, we can't have you slowing everyone else down watching out for you." Akefia said, and she nodded, Ryou leading her to the pathway.
"Sorry about that..."He said, and she shrugged.
"Akefia's an ass." She said as if it were a normal thing.
Ryou laughed.
"Yeah, at some points. He just want's the target, that's all. What's the matter anyways? I've never seen such dark circles under your eyes."
"Nothing. And that's kind of creepy that you pay attention."
"Well, I was studying to be a doctor, so I look for symptoms of sickness." Ryou shrugged, and Tamara nodded.
"Well then." Tamara said as she tripped, falling down.
"Tamara?" Ryou caught her arm.
"Ouch..."
"Are you okay?" Ryou looked to her, searching her eyes.
"Yeah...Just...really tired.." She said as her stomach tried to send up breakfast.
"Uh-oh..."Tamara said, and dropped to the ground.
"Tamara...I think I better get you home soon..."Ryou said, helping her up again.
"Yeah, how far...?" She looked around, not finding any of this brush familiar.
"I think..We got lost..."Ryou looked around as well.
"Well...Shit." Tamara blinked a few times, looking to Ryou.
"What do we do?" She asked.
"Well, I have a few plans. But I'm not sure how close we are to civilization..."
"Couldn't we just call them on the radios?" Tamara asked, and Ryou shook his head.
"We're too close to a human radio station, we'll only transmit and get signals from there." He said, pointing to the big radio tower just a few yard in front of them.
"Oh..."She said, and Ryou nodded.
"If you could change into a Phoenix, they'd see us, but so would the humans..." He pondered, and Tamara sat on a rock.
"Can't you open the portal back to the Dark Moon?"
"No, I'm only a medic. Marik, Isis, Melvin and Akefia learned how to do that...I went to medical studies..."
"What else are you? Besides human and Bakura's original?"
"Me? I'm an elf..." He said, removing his hair from his ear and revealing pointy ears.
"Oh..."Tamara gaped, touching his ear.
"Yeah...Which is why I also know so much more then humans...And other then being my clone, Bakura went into fighting styles, being my opposite, and went for warrior. He's got something else as well, but at the moment, it's not the time to speak of such in the human world."
"Well, you'll have to tell me more later..."
"Indeed I will."
Tamara fell silent, and looked around.
"Well, I can scorch the trees to try to find a way back..."
"Wait! That's it! When you almost got hit! You scorched the trees, and when you landed by Akefia your feet scorched that branch. And when we came in through the portal..."
"My feet touched the ground!"She exclaimed, and they went off searching for the burn marks.
They had no luck, but at least got back in range for the radio's with the rest of the team.
And pretty soon, Tamara was home, and Ryou went back to the mission.
She sighed at the quiet house, debating on knocking on Melvin's door to see what was wrong, but decided against it.
She walked to her room, and as she opened the door, she looked to her bed, where Melvin sat up.
"Melvin?" She asked, surprised. He held his arms open, her blankets draped around him, and she walked over, looking at him.
"I thought you were in your room...?"
"I came in here." He said, as he pulled her into his arms, laying them both down.
"Why?"
"Because being near you makes me feel better, and this was as close to you as I could get with you on a mission." Melvin smiled, kissing her cheek, but regretting it as his teeth felt hollow again, and he snapped his mouth shut, his stomach and body feeling as if it were ripping itself apart.
"Melvin?" Tamara sounded alarmed as he gripped his stomach, trying to keep his body in one piece and not rip into pieces. She looked to his face, and when he opened his eyes, they were red.
"You're eyes are red...Melvin what's wrong?" She asked, and Melvin spoke quietly, barley moving his lips, fear the Egyptian Eye would try to take over.
"I need food..."
"Food? Haven't you been eating?" Tamara asked, and Melvin shook his head.
"I don't eat regular food like all of you...I eat...Different kinds of food." He danced around the truth, and Tamara looked at him with an odd look.
"Then what do you eat?" She asked, confused. He sighed, finding it hard to keep this from her right now, and decided on the truth.
"Tamara, demons and gargoyles drink blood..." Tamara's eyes went wide, and she understood.
"Oh...Hence the time I was testing..."She mumbled, and Melvin nodded, frowning from both pain and making her uncomfortable.
"Well, uh...You...You could drink me if it's this bad..." She said quickly, and Melvin's eyes snapped open wide.
"What?" He asked, looking into her eyes.
"Well, I-I-I-I don't want you to die! And it doesn't look like you're going to be able to hunt or whatever it is you do to get….blood...But only this once!" She held up a finger, and Melvin gaped.
He didn't want to feed off her.
"Tamara...I...NO. No...No. I can't. Not you."
"What's wrong with my blood? Can you not drink it?"
"No-I...I..."Melvin didn't have the energy to explain.
"Only once...I promise."He said, and she nodded, leaning towards him. He sat on the floor next to her bed, breathing evenly for a minute.
He took a moment to calm himself even a little bit, still feeling as if he was going to be ripped in two from inside, and as she moved her hair back, he held up a hand.
"No, not somewhere visible..."He said, getting weaker by the second. He looked at her carefully, and put his hand to the side of her stomach.
"Somewhere I can cover it up?" She asked, and he nodded. She only thought for a second, but nodded.
"If you need it."
"I'm only going to take a little...Just enough to make it until I get another source..."
"Melvin, before you die, just hurry up and get it over with."He nodded, biting.
At first, his mouth burned, the Phoenix trying to stop him, but Tamara held it back. The blood poured into his mouth, filling his teeth and mouth, pouring into what seemed his whole body. It was warm from the Phoenix, satisfying every inch of him. He still had some control, being careful not to take too much, and listened to her breathing for comfort and to stay in control, his heart starting to beat normally.
As his teeth sunk into her skin, her stomach burned, the mark on her stomach shining bright red, almost as if flames were just beneath her skin, and her throat followed the burning feeling.
She could feel him taking blood, almost as if part of her soul was going with her blood into him. She fought back the Phoenix soul, which was trying to send fire into his teeth instead of blood, and almost screamed as it continued. It hurt. His teeth, and the fact he was taking blood. She covered her mouth to stop her from screaming, and tensed up, almost locking up her bones and joints.
Melvin growled once, as if telling her not to do that. It hurt more when she did, and she tried to calm down and not lock up her body. He grabbed her hand, and she squeezed it tightly with her other hand. He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, to her surprise he could still move his hand.
She closed her eyes, feeling as if his teeth got bigger as he drank more blood, and the corners of her eyes grew damp.
"Tamara..."Melvin whispered, and she looked to him, tears streaming down her face now.
She felt the pain lighten up until it eventually stopped, and sighed, happy it was over with.
"That hurt..."She felt lightheaded and dizzy, but shook it from her head, letting the Phoenix heal her skin and body.
"I'm sorry...But thank you...You were very brave to let me do that..." He rested his head on the mattress. She nodded, and Melvin looked down.
"I'm so sorry...Tamara...I...I shouldn't have done that..."Melvin shook his head in shame, and Tamara put her hand on his head, gently stroking his hair.
"It's okay...Don't be ashamed, and don't feel bad...I offered and you needed it...It was a one time thing..."She tried to assure, but her stomach ached in protest. She ignored it, and gave a weary smile as he looked up to her. She still held his hand, and he crawled next to her, kissing her.
"Tamara...Thank you so much...I...It...I-" She cut him off with a kiss of her own, and he looked at her with sad eyes.
"I promise I'll never feed off you again..."He said, and his heart felt good, beating in his chest. He didn't want to drink from her, and felt bad for doing such, but wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her gently.
"Melvin...Your heart...It's beating..."She gaped. She had never realized that it beat so much...
And until now, didn't realize it beat at all.
"My body needs blood to function, since I had only half of mine when I had the DNA transfer with Marik's blood and then then DNA with the Gargoyle's and Demon's. So when I get blood, my heart beats normally...Without blood, it only beats slowly or not at all...I'm still alive, it's just like a clock to tell me when I need to eat." Melvin said, and she nodded.
"How come you never told me before...about all this? And why didn't you eat if you knew you needed to!" She scolded, and Melvin sighed.
"I suppose now would be the time to tell you...?"
"No shit!"
"Alright, well...That's why I was sick. I get sick if I don't eat, like humans and others do, and as you've seen. For the last two questions...they have the same answer..."
"And what answer is that?" She asked, and Melvin sighed deeply. He didn't want to tell her, but he had to.
"I didn't want to seem like a monster to you..."
She fell silent, and he listened to her breathing as she thought it over.
"Melvin..."
"Yes?" He looked down to her, to find her glaring.
"TO HELL WITH WHAT I THINK! YOU SHOULD FUCKING EAT!" She yelled, and Melvin's face went to a calm line.
"Alright." He rested his chin on the top of her head, and breathed with her. Feeling replenished with her blood.
"You should know by now..."She whispered, and Melvin looked down to her.
"Know what?"
"That I wouldn't care..."She said, putting her forehead to his and lightly bumping their noses. Melvin's eyes widened, and she smiled.
Melvin smiled back, relieved a bit.
"You're sure about that?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm a monster too..."
"You are?"
"Rawr." She said, giggling. Melvin smiled, and closed his eyes.
He chuckled, opening his eyes again to reveal they were now back to their normal yellow.
"So what blood is the best?" She asked, and Melvin sighed.
"You're really going to ask me questions about this?"
"I don't see why not, so yes."
"Human blood is the best..." Melvin said, and Tamara stopped.
"Wait...I was part human...Does that mean...?"
"Not exactly, no. You still have the Phoenix blood in you, which tainted it."
"What did it taste like?"
"Like cinnamon, and fire." He chuckled a bit, and she nodded.
"Was it good?"
Melvin froze. He wasn't sure what to say.
"I'm not sure what to say..."He said honestly.
"No, I mean was it just as good as Human blood?" Melvin still bit his tongue a little bit, but spoke up anyways.
"Not exactly. Like I said, your human self was completely tainted with the Phoenix..."
"So I'm no good?" She said as a smile appeared on her lips, she laughed a little bit.
"I wouldn't say that..."He kissed her neck and smiled up at her, more playful now.
She laughed, and smiled at him.
"I'm glad I could help."
"Thank you." He said again, and felt as if he couldn't say it enough. What she did was dangerous, but extremely brave.
"So, what now?"
"Now? Now we stay here until they get back..."
"Oh..."She said, and Melvin gave her a questionable look.
"What did you want to do?"
"Well, it's just...Never mind."
"What?"
"No, never mind." She shut her mouth, and he sighed.
"Tamara, what is it?"
"Well, it's just I've never been in your room...We're always in mine..." She pouted, and Melvin looked to her eyes.
"You want to see my room? Alright, come one then." He grabbed her hand, and led her to his room.
Authors note: Maybe I'm just crazy, but I love this chapter more and more by the word :D
Every time I think I love a certain chapter, the next one is better 0.o
I'm even surprising myself with my awesome writing XD
That's amazing :p
But in this chapter, it gave a LOT more insight to Melvin and Tamara (in my opinion) and I honestly can't say I'm more happy with a chapter then my recent stories. By the way, thank you for reading ^^
Read and review, :p
Yu-gi-oh Characters © their creators
Dark Side of the Moon, Tamara, and this story/alternate universe © Me, and I do not allow anyone else to use this without my permission
