Title: Two Sides Of A Coin (Chapter 21) – A Dark Morning
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.
Knock, knock.
Mmm? Ryou blinked his bleary eyes open at the sound, feeling alarmed when his vision stayed just as dark as it had been. He rubbed his eyes, but nothing changed. Huh? What time is it? Why can't I see anything?
He gave Marik's body a squeeze, just to assure himself that he was still there, then glanced toward where he thought Marik's night light was supposed to be. Maybe the bulb burned out...?
There was another rap on the door. "Marik?" Ishizu's voice called. "Bakura?"
"Hmm?" Marik murmured. He shifted sleepily atop Ryou's chest before going absolutely still. "What's going on?" he asked, an edge of panic in his voice. His fingers dug into Ryou's pajama shirt. "Where are you? Why is it so dark?"
"I'm right here," Ryou replied, taking one of Marik's hands. "Um. You can come in," he belatedly called to Ishizu.
The door creaked open. Ryou looked over and saw Ishizu's form outlined against a dim light from somewhere behind her. She flipped the light switch, and an equally dull light filled the room. "Are you two all right?" she asked.
Ryou looked up at Marik, who seemed a little calmer now that the lights were on. "Is something wrong with the electricity?" Marik asked.
"Not the electricity, only the lights," Ishizu replied. She paused, looking as though there was something more she didn't really want to say. "Including the sun."
"The sun?" Marik repeated, sliding off of Ryou. He ran over the window and threw open the curtains, revealing nothing but darkness outside. He backed away from the window.
"The real sun, or the other one?" Ryou asked, though he thought he could already tell the answer from Ishizu's hesitation.
"The real one," Ishizu said. "It's seven thirty in the morning."
Ryou glanced at the clock, which only confirmed what Ishizu had just told him. Not that she'd lie about something like this. "What happened?" he asked, moving to join Marik at the window.
"I don't know," she said. The lights flickered, and she waited a moment before continuing. "The sun was already gone when my alarm woke me. I turned on the light in my bedroom, and it was weak, like this one. Odion is outside investigating."
"Maybe there's something on the news," Marik suggested. He grabbed Ryou's arm and hurried to the living room, where the lights were already on. Ishizu followed behind them.
Marik fumbled around for the remote, then turned the TV on.
The morning news anchor appeared on screen. The words 'BREAKING NEWS' were just below him, and a darkened picture of a sun with a question mark in the middle floated next to his head. "...everyone to stay home until more can be learned about the situation. For those just joining us now at half past seven, we bring you breaking news about the sun, which has not been seen since its descent from the sky last afternoon."
He seems awfully calm about the situation, Ryou thought. Then again, that's probably a good thing. It may keep people from panicking.
"While the Domino UFO appeared just after sunset and disappeared at its usual time," the man continued, "not a sliver of the sun's light has been seen on the horizon, and no stars are visible in the sky. There are also widespread reports of light bulb malfunctions, leaving Domino residents with dim lighting even in their own homes." The man put his hand to his ear for a moment, eyes drifting off to the side. "I've just gotten word from the mayor's office that all street lights will be on by eight o'clock. They will be kept on until the sun appears."
"That's something, I guess," Marik said, looking only a little relieved.
The news anchor flipped over the piece of paper he was holding. "And now I'm going to send you over to Ann, our correspondent currently at the city limits. What are you seeing out there, Ann?"
The camera cut to a young woman wearing a bright yellow raincoat with the hood pulled over her head, as though she hadn't known what the appropriate dress for the situation was, and so had just decided to go with standard reporting-from-a-thunderstorm attire. Some kind of light had been set up above her head, making her stand out against the dark background. "Well, I'm seeing some kind of purple barrier," she replied, gesturing over to her side. The camera followed to where she pointed.
Murky purple waves appeared on screen. They moved in all directions, occasionally forming blobs that were unnervingly close to eyes.
Ryou's eyes widened. "Isn't that-?"
"The Shadow Realm," Marik finished. "It looks like that."
Ryou felt a shiver run down his spine.
"The barrier seems to encompass all of Domino City. It continues upward as far as anyone has been able to see, and there doesn't seem to be any way through it so far."
"So we've all been sent to the Shadow Realm somehow," Marik said. "What do we do now?"
"We should call Yugi," Ryou replied. To find out if he's okay, if nothing else.
Marik brightened. "Good idea. If anyone can get us out of the Shadow Realm, it's him." He picked up the phone and put the receiver to his ear, but then immediately put it back down. He shook his head. "Line's dead."
"We'll go to him, then," Ishizu said.
"Is it safe to drive?" Ryou asked. Is it even safe to go outside?
"No," Odion said, appearing in the doorway with a flashlight. "There has already been an accident only a block from here. It would be better to walk."
"I'll get some more flashlights," Marik replied. He ran up to his room, returning with a number of flashlights only someone deeply afraid of the dark could amass. He set them down on the coffee table, then took the biggest one for himself. The light was about the size of a basketball.
I don't need one quite that big, Ryou thought, choosing a lightweight, average-sized flashlight for himself. He turned it on to make sure it worked. "Um. Anything else we should bring with us?"
"Some food, maybe," Marik replied. "Oh, and extra batteries for the flashlights."
They gathered together various supplies, then set out for the game shop.
They didn't need the flashlights for long; the streetlights were on by eight o'clock, as promised. While dim, the light was more than enough to avoid walking into anything.
They ate a breakfast of sandwiches as they walked. Bringing food turned out to be a good idea, as none of the stores they passed were actually open. They ran across a few more car accident scenes, though no one seemed to have been seriously injured. They passed a fair amount of people on their journey, but the vast majority of Domino residents seemed to be staying inside.
I can't really blame them for that, Ryou thought. It's better than rioting.
Yugi ran out to greet them as they approached. "Hey," he said. "I was wondering if you'd come. I've been looking out the window for you."
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Marik asked.
Yugi held up his hands. "No more than I've seen on the news," he said. "Let's get inside." Yugi led them into the game shop, then locked the door behind them. "Grandpa went back to bed. He doesn't think there'll be any business today."
"We closed the museum today for just that reason," Ishizu replied.
They walked through the back into Yugi's living room, then set down their supplies on the coffee table. The TV was already turned on to the news. A correspondent was interviewing an astronomy professor from Domino University. It was clear within a few sentences that the professor had no idea what was going on, but he seemed to be trying to avoid saying that directly.
Yugi gestured for everyone to sit down, which they did. They were all eager to figure out what had caused the current situation.
"I was thinking it could have been your dark side," Yugi said, getting straight to the point. "He's the only one I can think of who would do something like this who we've also seen recently."
"Um," Marik replied, clearly put on the spot. "I don't remember anything weird happening, but..." He looked at Ryou for assistance.
Ryou thought it over for a moment, then shook his head. "It couldn't have been him. Marik was with me all night," Ryou said. "He was on top of me- I mean sleeping on top of me," he amended, cheeks heating up a little. "A-anyway. I was asleep, but his dark side is heavier than he is. He'd have woken me up when he transformed, even if he didn't intend to."
Yugi nodded. "That makes sense."
It could still have been something his dark side did another time, Ryou thought to himself. This seems like it could be connected to that fake sun. Ryou nearly repeated his thought out loud, but then thought the better of it. If Marik hears, his dark will also hear. "Maybe we should try to figure out more about what's going on before trying to figure out who's responsible."
"That's probably a good idea," Yugi replied. He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Well, first off, I think we can safely say we're in the Shadow Realm," he said, looking to the others for agreement.
He got it, in the form of a few nods.
"So, either we're in the middle of someone's Shadow Game, or we've just been sent here directly somehow," Yugi continued.
"Is that possible?" Ryou asked.
"I'm not sure," Yugi replied. "The Pharaoh always had to do the Shadow Game first, but..." Yugi looked at Marik.
Marik looked uncomfortable. "Um. I always had to use one, too. Even if it was a trick."
"I have no idea how the Spirit did it," Ryou said. For the first time in his life, he almost wished he did know, just so they'd have the information. "But, in any event, the Millennium Items are gone. How could anyone even start a Shadow Game?"
"Duel Monsters cards still have Shadow Magic within them," Odion replied. "It may still be possible for someone to start a Shadow Game with them."
"It would be a Duel Monsters-based Shadow Game, though," Marik said, sounding doubtful. "If someone was playing Duel Monsters in the middle of Domino right now, it would probably have made the news."
"That's true," Yugi said. "The holograms would be too bright to miss. That doesn't mean somebody hasn't found a different way to use the magic in them, though. Maybe we should start looking through Duel Monsters cards for clues."
Since they had no better ideas at the moment, Yugi went and got all his Duel Monsters cards, as well as the official Duel Monsters card index listing all the cards that had ever been created. They started going through them, looking for anything connected to what was going on.
A few minutes in, Ryou discreetly pulled Yugi aside and explained his real theory, about Marik's dark side, the fake sun, and the Aten heresy.
"How long have you known about this?" Yugi asked.
"Er. Not that long," Ryou replied, not wanting it to sound like he'd been hiding anything. "I told you what I thought about the statues and the sun. Ishizu didn't tell me about the false god until recently."
"We should probably be looking into the statues, too, then," Yugi said. "I'll tell the others." He held up a hand to stop Ryou from protesting. "Don't worry. I won't tell Marik we're researching the statues. I'll just say I want to research other possible sources of Shadow Magic in Egyptian history."
Ryou nodded. "That should work."
They returned to the others, and Yugi told them just what he'd said he would. He and Ishizu went up to his room to look at his books and discuss the problem. Ryou, Marik, and Odion continued to look through the cards.
At noon they all took a break for lunch (or breakfast, in freshly awakened Solomon's case). In spite of the coffee and tea they drank, they were all starting to feel fatigued.
By the time three o'clock hit, they were all thoroughly exhausted. "Uuaah," Marik yawned. "It's only mid-afternoon, but it feels like we've been up all night."
"It's the lack of sunlight," Ryou said.
"Yeah," Marik agreed, yawning again. "I haven't felt like this since I lived underground. Let's take another break." He rested his head on Ryou's shoulder, and they both listened to the news at half-attention. Yugi, Ishizu, and even Odion soon joined them, all looking ready for another break.
Nothing new happened until about four o'clock or so, when the windows of Yugi's living room were suddenly flooded with light.
Marik leapt off his seat. "Do you think that's-?" He ran to the window and looked outside excitedly, then seemed to deflate a little. "It's just the UFO."
"At least we'll have light for some of the day," Yugi replied.
Ryou joined Marik at the window, looking out on the fake sun. Well, if it's still here, our theory is still possible, he thought.
Somehow, it wasn't very comforting.