It's been a MONTH since I last updated? Well, that wasn't supposed to happen... Apologies. Life's been hectic and I've been working really hard on the sequel to White Heart of the Thief since I want to finish writing it before I finish posting this one. :) Also, I'm leaving for the UK tomorrow and won't be back for a couple of day, so I had to either update now or leave it for even longer... and I didn't want that. -_- Please leave a review to tell me what you think of this chapter... Things happen and I want to know what you think! ;)

Chapter 25 – Vengeance

Ryou had hoped that Valentine's Day was going to be a good day. Introducing his father to Bakura was going to be great, and they would hopefully get along well. He had gone to get Bakura with that thought in his mind, but at their arrival at Ryou's home, Ryou quickly realised that he had hoped for too much.

"I can't believe it!" Bakura shouted and slammed his foot into the ground with a loud bang, making Ryou flinch. He stared at the empty parking spot, looking furious. "They left without us! Your fucking family went to the airport... without us!" Bakura kicked a loose rock on the pavement, causing it to fly several metres, landing there with a loud clatter. "What a lovely Valentine's Day", Bakura then muttered sarcastically and glared after the blue car, disappearing in the distance. Ryou didn't reply. He felt very hurt by the fact that his mother and Amane had gone to pick up his father without letting him and Bakura come with them. He hadn't talked to them about coming with them; he had simply assumed that they were going to wait for him. Maybe he should have been clearer about that, he thought with a sigh.

"What should we do now?" Ryou asked carefully, observing Bakura cautiously. Bakura was muttering several very ugly words under his breath, but stopped when he noticed Ryou watching him. "I mean... Mum and Amane won't exactly speak in our favour... I don't want them to tell him about us before I even get a chance to speak to him..."

"We'll have to get there first", Bakura stated boldly. "If we can catch up to them, we still have a chance."

"And how are we going to do that?" Ryou asked, beginning to feel a bit desperate. "They have a car, and we have nothing! They already left, too, so they have an advantage..." Bakura began searching the pockets of his long red coat, and pulled out something golden from one of them.

"Where did you get the Millennium Eye from?" Ryou asked in surprise. Bakura grinned and pulled out some Duel Monster cards from another pocket.

"I pick-pocketed my dad earlier today." He shuffled through his cards and pulled out one of them. "This one should do."

"You stole the Millennium Eye?" Ryou couldn't believe his ears. "Gozaburo Kaiba will kill you."

"Probably", Bakura agreed as he stuffed the rest of his cards back into his pocket. "But I feel safer when I have a weapon with me." Ryou thought Bakura was being a bit paranoid, but didn't tell him that. Bakura held the Eye in one hand and the card in the other. "Now then... How do I summon it? I'll just try this... I summon Diabound!" From the Eye, dark shadowy smoke appeared, surrounding them both. Bakura's card began to glow, and a Duel Monster appeared. It was silver in colour, and its upper body was almost human in appearance. Three horns were on its head, and wings on its back. Instead of legs, it had a tail which had the head of a snake at the end of it. Ryou watched the creature in awe, feeling a wave of familiarity as he looked at it. He thought of a man with dark skin and white hair, a scar across his cheek...

"Where did you get that card from?" Ryou asked carefully. Bakura looked at him, seeming confused by his question.

"Diabound was one of the first Duel Monsters cards I ever got", he stated, before leaping onto the monster's back. "Are you coming?"

"All right..." Ryou climbed onto Diabound's back and held on to Bakura. "...but won't people see us?" Being seen by all of Domino City riding a strange creature across the sky wasn't exactly Ryou's dream for Valentine's Day.

"The Shadow Magic will protect us from sight", Bakura said and pointed to the dark smoke swirling around them. "It will also keep Diabound in his corporeal form and stop him from reverting back into a card." Diabound spread its wings, and lifted from the ground. Ryou unconsciously clung tighter to Bakura as they swept into the air at a high speed.

"S-sure... but won't this be dangerous?" he whispered as he looked down and could see Domino City like a panorama below him. They were so high up in the sky... What if Bakura lost control of the Shadow Magic and they ended up falling to their deaths? "Who even taught you to wield Shadow Magic anyway? Seto Kaiba? Atemu? Jonouchi?" Yes, why did Bakura seem to know how this worked? It was odd, for sure...

"Nobody taught me!" Bakura said with a snort. "It's instinct! Once you grab a Millennium Item, you just... know!" Ryou didn't know what to make of that answer, but he chose not to argue with Bakura for now, and instead held on tighter as they swished through the sky.

"Well... At least we'll get to the airport before Mum and Amane..."

–

Mariku climbed onto the railing that surrounded the roof of the skyscraper and looked up at the sky, bright and blue, thinking about the irony of today's beautiful weather. He had been planning to invite Malik out to do something today (and at the same time apologise over those things he had said to him a while ago), with Valentine's Day and all, but after what the ghost had told him he had just lost the will to do that. Not to mention that Malik had told Rishid and him that he was going to visit Isis. Mariku had tried to persuade him not to leave, but in the end, he had failed. Rishid, on the other hand, had got a call from Gozaburo Kaiba, telling him to come to KaibaCorp immediately.

"Apparently, the Millennium Eye has disappeared", Rishid had told him. "Let's go, Mariku." Mariku had protested at first, saying he'd rather stay home (with the intention to go after Malik and distract him somehow), but Rishid had been insistent. In the end, it had just been Rishid, Atsuko, Gozaburo, Pegasus and a couple of Mariku's classmates who discussed where it could possibly had vanished to, and Pegasus had been blamed for not looking after it properly since he had been the one who had watched over it most recently.

"Well, I'll just go home to look for it, then", Pegasus had said, sounding insulted for being blamed to have stolen it, and disappeared out of the door. The conversation had then continued to ponder about who could possibly be the vessel of the last God Card, with Jonouchi, Atemu and Seto making stupid suggestions while Mariku had been getting very restless. Knowing that he couldn't just walk out through the front door without everyone asking questions, he had went up to the roof of the skyscraper in hope to somehow find a way down to the ground from there. But now as he was standing there, looking out over the city, he had to admit that this had been a stupid idea.

"What are you doing up here all alone, Khayal?" Mariku spun around, only to find Mai Kujaku, Anzu Mazaki and Shizuka Kawai standing behind him. And to think that he would once have been happy to be alone with three girls, all of them very pretty... How his attitude had changed since then. "Rishid is looking for you, you know", Anzu continued. "They came to the conclusion that you or Bakura might be the vessel of the Sun Dragon Ra, and Rishid wants you to at least look at the card and see if you feel a magical connection to it, or something like that..." She laughed, not really seeming to take it all very seriously.

"Really?" Mariku said, keeping his tone bored, but he couldn't help feeling a bit interested. They thought he might be the third vessel? He silently imagined what would happen if he was. He would have the powers of a god... All the things he could do, with power like that... Oh dear, he was beginning to sound creepy, wasn't he? Before he had the chance to do anything else, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Mariku! Where are you?" Malik's voice echoed in his ear. "I went to see Isis, but she wasn't home, so I went back to the apartment, but the door was locked! Where are you and Rishid?" Mariku almost let out a sigh of relief and felt his entire body relax. Isis hadn't been home. Malik didn't know about his dark secret. (Not yet, at least.)

"We're at KaibaCorp because Pegasus went and lost the Millennium Eye", Mariku stated.

"He lost the Eye? That doesn't sound good", Malik mumbled. "...Okay. I'm coming over to KaibaCorp. Don't leave before I get there! I swear, you could have left me a key or something..." Mariku chuckled and was about to reply, but before he had a chance to do that, a voice spoke up from behind him.

"Mariku Khayal." Isis Ishtar stepped out in the open from behind a chimney, surprising his three classmates not nearly as much as she surprised him. Her voice was frighteningly calm, her Millennium Necklace glowing. "I have waited three months for an opportunity like this one."

"Is that Isis?" Malik's voice on the phone sounded concerned. "What is she...?!" Mariku quit the call quickly and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He couldn't afford panicking. Not now. But the crippling sensation of fear was just beneath the surface and he could only barely control it.

"What do you want?" he asked carefully, moving away from her slowly.

"I want revenge", she said, her voice still completely calm. She had seemed so calm and collected from what Malik had told him about her and she definitely was, but Mariku could still detect the fury bubbling from underneath the surface. "You've committed a horrible crime and I will punish you for it." Mariku was glad at first that she hadn't called the police, but quickly realised that the police would have been better than the fate that now awaited him. "I'll kill you", Isis said, stepping closer to him. "I'll make you feel the same pain my father felt before he died... No, the pain you'll feel will be much, much worse." Out of the corner of his eye, Mariku saw Shizuka sprint off, presumably to fetch an adult. But Anzu and Mai remained there, and Anzu was even bold enough to speak up.

"Hey! That's my classmate you're talking to!" she exclaimed. She had always been the kind of person who was loyal to her friends, but Mariku had never thought that she would step up for him of all people. Isis turned to look at Anzu slowly. "Leave him alone!"

"Yeah!" Mai shouted. "What has he done to you anyway?!" Isis stared at Mai, a calculating look in her blue eyes.

"What HE did to me?" She shook her head. "Oh, if you only knew. I think I'll spare you from the information. You will be better off that way." She turned back to Mariku. "Now then, Mariku Khayal. How would you prefer to die?"

"Of old age, after a long and happy life", Mariku replied smartly and felt very content with the answer until he realised that it was a bad idea to make stupid jokes in a situation like this one. A situation where his life was literally on the line. Damn that big mouth of his! Isis glared at him, looking even more murderous than before. "...but I assume that that wasn't one of the options, right?"

"No", she replied coolly. "Dreadful jokes will get you nowhere." She moved closer to him, and Mariku backed away even further, until he was pinned against the iron railing, which was now the only thing that prevented him from falling to his death. So, was this how he was going to die? Killed by Malik's vengeful sister... If only she knew the truth... Wait. He had nothing to lose. Why not tell her; at least attempt to explain!

"I wasn't aware of what I did! I suffer from... this illness! It makes me lose control of my actions!" he tried, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. It didn't matter if Anzu and Mai heard, as long as he had a chance to escape his awaiting doom. "I can understand that you hate me for what I've done... The only thing I can do is to apologise..." He held his head down, avoiding eye-contact with Isis. "I'm Malik's friend! I only wanted to protect him, and I admit that I went too far! I've lived with the regret of what I've done every day, wishing that I had been able to keep myself under control..." He looked up, meeting Isis's gaze now. "I just tried to keep him safe. Your brother means the world to me, Isis. I love him and I don't want him to suffer any more." She seemed very shocked by the words he had spoken, but the surprise quickly disappeared and turned into actual, clearly visible anger instead.

"How dare you claim to love my brother after what you did?!" she hissed. "You disgust me, Mariku Khayal. You say that what you did was something you couldn't control, yet you didn't even try to redeem yourself. It's too late for apologies now." She placed her hand on the Millennium Necklace around her neck, and it began to glow. Mariku braced himself, aware that this moment might be his last. And he hadn't even said goodbye to Malik... or Rishid... or Bakura... or any of his other friends...

"Stop right there!" a familiar voice suddenly screamed. Rishid bolted out of the entrance to the roof, Shizuka right behind him. Anzu and Mai looked at them in relief. Rishid was holding the Millennium Scale, and he looked more furious than Mariku had ever seen him before. "Don't touch my brother!" He ran forward and stopped between Mariku and Isis, facing the latter.

"You look familiar with that Scale in hand", Isis stated slowly. "Are you the reincarnation of High Priest Karim of the Millennium Scale?" What? That certainly came out of the blue. But somehow, Mariku thought, it made sense. Rishid's intense instinct to protect the Millennium Scale had been what had brought them to Japan in the first place. Perhaps the fact that Rishid was a reincarnation of one of the Pharaoh's Priests explained that... Rishid nodded slowly. "So you are aware?" Isis questioned. "Then why have you not sought out your fellow Priests?"

"I have known of my past life for a long time, but never spoken of it", Rishid replied, voice calm and collected. "Something that happened 3.000 years ago may be important, but it holds little difference to me right now. I want you to stay away from my little brother." It warmed Mariku's heart to hear those things from Rishid. He knew Rishid was incredibly dedicated to protecting the Millennium Scale (which made sense now), so to see him stand up against another Millennium Item bearer like this was incredible.

"Your brother is a murderer", Isis said in a low tone. Mariku thought he could hear Anzu and the others gasp. "He killed my father in cold blood and stole the Millennium Rod after impaling my father with it." Mariku could only see Rishid's back, but he saw how Rishid's entire body went stiff.

"...It was my fault", Rishid then said, his tone completely neutral. "Mariku was in a state of shock and cannot account for his actions that night. I should have kept an eye on him and made sure that he didn't do anything rash." So he knew what night Isis was talking about? Had he been aware all along? Mariku wasn't sure he wanted to know. "You cannot punish him for something he didn't do willingly."

"Can't I?" The Millennium Necklace began to glow again. "Then I'll just have to get rid of you first... Karim... Rishid... Whatever your name is. It pains me to have to fight a possible ally, but... Let's play a Shadow Game." Shadowy smoke swirled out from her Millennium Item and surrounded her, Rishid and Mariku, but the real world could still be seen through the smoke. They weren't quite in the Shadow Realm, but not in the normal world either. They were in something in between. "I summon Spiria!" A winged female monster appeared next to Isis and flew towards Rishid at full speed. Rishid, however, reacted quickly.

"I summon Bastet!" As the Millennium Scale glowed, a black cat-like beast appeared before Rishid and attacked Isis's Duel Monster. The monsters battled fiercely, neither of them seeming to get the upper hand. Mai dashed forward to help, but the shadowy shapes that had almost-but-not-quite taken Isis, Rishid and Mariku to the Shadow Realm stopped her from getting across. Mariku moved away from the railing.

"Rishid, I..." he began, but there was nothing he could say. Rishid turned to look at him, his face grim and serious. "Are you angry with me?" He expected an angry 'yes' but instead Rishid shook his head.

"That man was horrible, and you shouldn't blame yourself", he stated, watching Mariku with a strange sorrow in his eyes. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Mariku." Rishid's monster was on the ground now, pinned down by Spiria, struggling desperately against its enemy.

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Rishid", Mariku replied with a grin, beginning to feel a bit more light-hearted again. "And you really should summon a new Duel Monster before she beats your current one." It was the look on Rishid's face that told him that something was wrong.

"I can't, Mariku. I didn't bring my deck. I left it at home because I thought I wouldn't need it." Rishid's eyes became even sadder. "That monster... is not a Duel Monster, Mariku. That is my Spirit Monster. The embodiment of my soul. I brought it out purely with the power of the Scale. I can remember it from my past life. I wish I had told you about it earlier... It's just like the Ancient Egyptian form of magic. When it is defeated..." He closed his eyes in defeat. "I'm so sorry, Mariku." Mariku's eyes widened as he came to the horrible realisation, and he quickly attempted to pull out his own cards, only to find that his pocket was empty. His cards were at home, lying on the kitchen table. It was like one of those nightmares Mariku sometimes had, where you arrive at school and you've forgotten to do all your assignments, except that this one was real and the circumstances were so much worse, and this was a mistake that Mariku would come to regret for the rest of his life.

"No", he could only whisper, feeling the dread creeping down his spine.

"Perfect", he heard Isis whisper, her voice dripping with the desire for vengeance. "I'll make you suffer before I kill you. You will watch your dear big brother die, knowing that you, Mariku Khayal, are a helpless child who could do nothing to save him, and that you will soon follow him." No. Please. Let this be a bad dream. Yes. Any moment now, he'd wake up in his bed, and get up to eat breakfast with Rishid and Malik, and go to school, and keep plotting to win Malik's heart...

It was like everything happened in slow-motion. He saw Spiria attack Bastet once again, and watched Rishid's Spirit Monster shatter into pieces of glass. He barely even registered Rishid wobbling before dropping to the ground, the Scale falling from his hand and making a loud clatter as it smashed into the ground. He heard Mai, Anzu and Shizuka scream something, but he didn't listen to the words. He knelt before the shell that had once been Rishid, unable to understand, not sure what to feel except for this intense hatred. Hatred towards the woman who had caused him this pain. There was a Duel Monster card face-down on the ground next to Rishid. Why in the world hadn't Rishid used it? Mariku picked it up. And the hatred rose up, like a phoenix from the ashes, more powerful than anything he had felt before, flaming and burning.

And so, Mariku Khayal's world descended into chaos.

A/N: ...Well, look at that. I just killed a man. Seriously, though. Killing Rishid off was not fun. At all. Okay, I lied. It was fun while I was writing it (I love writing things like that), but I felt really guilty about it afterwards. But I needed some further character development for Mariku and killing off Rishid seemed like the right way to go about it. Even though it made me sad… Afterwards, the only thing I could think was: "OMG, I killed a character. I killed a CHARACTER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ANYTHING I'VE EVER WRITTEN!", and I ran about shouting that to my little brother, but then he pointed out that I'd already killed Mr Ishtar too... in this very same fic. I'm such an idiot; how did I even forget that... I calmed down a bit after that. (But that's still not the same thing, because unlike Rishid, Mr Ishtar kind of had it coming.)

Oh, and I can't resist cliffhangers. They're just so much fun. Leaving things, just like that. I've noticed now that I really like putting Mariku through horrible things, for some reason. And then I just sit there feeling sorry for him even if I'm the one who keeps torturing him like that. Being an over-emphatic¨person and a sadistic writer at the same time is a really odd combination.

I also introduce the idea of Spirit Monsters properly for the first time. My basic idea is this: the Spirit Monster is an important part of your soul that can also be used for combat, bur unlike when you fight with Duel Monsters cards, you can only summon one and if it's destroyed you're dead. Based on the Ka mythology used in the Millennium World story arc, of course. Everyone has a different-looking Spirit Monster (like a Patronus!). I should make a list some day. And would you look at that; I used the new plot device to kill Rishid. Speaking of Rishid, I've always headcanoned him as the reincarnation of Priest Karim. Not sure why.

Meanwhile, Ryou and Bakura set out on their own little adventure. They have to get to the airport because Ryou's mother and sister just left him behind. Feels small and insignificant compared to what the hell just went down.