Heyyyy... so ... it's been a while... ahaha... God. I'd give you an excuse for this late chapter, but honestly, it's been 90% done and sitting on my computer for like 3 weeks until i decided to fix it up and post it. I'm a terrible person.

Did I tell you I dropped my new laptop last week? Cracked the screen. This has nothing to do with the late chapter, but I just wanted your pity.

She forgot about me. It takes way too long for this truth to dawn on him -way too long for it to pierce through the thick skin of his chest and lodge itself between his lungs, making each breath he takes a bonafide challenge. It's been way too long and the memories still haven't come back. He's started to wonder if they ever will -if she'd believe him should he try to tell her. Would she believe anything he had to say anymore?

There are three people in this body and one of them is laughing at him; the other owns this body and he's been quiet for a while now. It's a strange and empty feeling having the other Marik in charge. All three of them are insane, he knows that for sure, but the other Marik's insanity is the kind that hurts people. Malik won't lie to himself and claim to be some sort of saint (Arkana himself would testify to that if he could), but he knows the dark Marik wouldn't hesitate to burn the whole world down and sit down in the middle of the chaos, letting the flames lick his skin and reveling in the sensation as his skin roasted to a black crisp.

The mental image makes Malik shudder and rub his arms. It would be particularly useful to mention that Malik was no longer in the realm of the living, but in the Inbetween, standing before the gates to the Solitude and feeling the heavy winds reach out towards him from beyond the towering wall. There's no Gatekeeper standing watch, and if the broken stones were any indication, it's likely they haven't just gone out for a brief coffee break.

He takes his first steps and immediately feels the change in the atmosphere. He can't even see anything; the dust is so thick. The howling of the wind makes it hard for him to hear anything as well, so he feels disadvantaged as he makes his way blindly past the threshold and into a thicket of trees.

"Let me go!"

He purses his lips. Serenity. And she sounds close… That's not who he's looking for, but she's close enough for the moment. He sighs.

Man, Horakhty picked the wrong guy for this job…

SpookyFingerFoods is typing…

SpookyFingerFoods: heyyy, u kno wat really jimmies my jammies?

DestroyerOfWorlds: … do i want to know?

SpookyFingerFoods: airplane food -leik tf is up w/ that stuff amirite?

DestroyerOfWorlds: oh look, it seems i did not in fact want to know that

Malik yawns and leans his head back, watching the screen through semi-closed lids. SpookyFingerFoods' avatar, a warrior with gold-trimmed sterling silver armor (or as sterling as 16-bit graphics could get), dashed deeper into the dungeon, lance at the ready in case of any monster encounters. DestroyerOfWorlds, clad in high-tier gold armor and a limited edition dragon helmet, ran in as well.

DestroyerOfWorlds: please stop leeroy jenkins-ing everywhere.

DestroyerOfWorlds: you're two levels too low to even be in here.

SpookyFingerFoods: eyy that's wht i gott u for, destroyerr~

He makes to type something back at her, but he's interrupted by an in-game pop-up:

"YOUR PARTY HAS BEEN AMBUSHED!"

"Malik! Get out of that room of yours!" a man bellows at the top of his lungs in Arabic from another room. He rolls his eyes and ignores it, electing to focus on the battle at hand. He can't just leave SFF high and dry, now can he?

DOW summons his animal familiar, a black dragon roughly the size of a large dog with a short neck; it creeps up beside him and roars. The warrior himself slams his gauntlet into a lanky grey goblin, destroying it in one attack. SFF slams her lance into the ground, summoning a comet storm that deals critical damage to all of the enemies.

He grins to himself, waiting until the victory fanfare was over to type again.

DestroyerOfWorlds: what did i tell you?

SpookyFingerFoods: eh -i can just heal myself. i still have some mana

DestroyerOfWorlds: oh? the mana that you refuse to waste on my *** even when my health is critically low? that mana?

SpookyFingerFoods: language, misterr or ill have ta tell on u to the admins

DestroyerOfWorlds: loser

SpookyFingerFoods: :)))))) you love me

DestroyerOfWorlds: i guess

SpookyFingerFoods: I GUESS?!

SpookyFingerFoods: worst bf everrrr ;P

DestroyerOfWorlds is typing...

His face turns bright red with nobody to see it. They aren't really dating -neither of them are forward enough to ask -but they have been mistaken by other players for a bickering couple, and she teases him relentlessly about it. It isn't like he hasn't thought about asking her and making it official, but the possibility of her teasing being just that -teasing -drains his courage every time he builds it up.

"Malik!" The door to his bedroom slams open, heavy wood clattering against the wall. That's definitely going to leave a mark. The man standing at the door isn't very tall, but he makes up for it in his stoutness and sour disposition. He isn't Malik's father. No, Salman Al-Deeb was a hero.

This man, Ra'ed, is his mother's new husband -a doctor who bought his degree off the Internet and someone who fancies himself a good father just because he goes to the mosque for every prayer. He comes home like he's the veritable king and sits on his big ass ordering the family around like he owns them -like he could just buy them with the blood money he earns pretending he knows what he's doing at the hospital.

"What do you want?" Malik snaps bitterly, jumping to his feet and shutting his laptop. He knows where this argument is going and he decides to apologize to SFF later.

"I want you to get up off your no-good ass and study. You wanna shame the entire family by failing your senior year?" Ra'ed hollers, flinging his arm outward dramatically. "Your mother is ill and you will enter medical school and do her proud."

Malik snarls and crosses his arm. He knows talking back will only make things worse, but he's never been very good at keeping his mouth shut. "Oh, like the way you did your family proud when you flunked out of med-school? Or did you somehow in the few years get a legitimate degree behind our backs, Ra'ed?"

"You animal!" Ra'ed cried out. "How dare you disrespect me like that. I am your father -"

"You aren't!" Malik almost screams, his voice cracking as he does. The words are out of his mouth before he can help it. "You've never been a father to me! What is it that you got out of marrying my mother, huh? What is it? Would no other woman have you? So you had to prey on a woman with five children, desperate for a husband to support her -"

"Don't talk about your mother that way-"

"I'm not talking about her! I'm talking about you! You disgusting excuse for a human being!" he continues, feeling his rage settling heavily in his chest. "You filthy predator. You think you're a good person? Is that what you think? Do you think God will forgive you every time you hit her? Or do you think He isn't watching you when you pull my sister's hair? You call yourself a Muslim-"

"This is my house!" Ra'ed's face is red now. "I will do what I please. Women were created to obey their fathers and husbands -"

"Oh, yeah. Is that what you think?" Malik interrupts again. "Shahed is ten years old. Who gave you the fucking right to treat her like you do? What about Layan and Luma -they're just turning thirteen? Or Kawthar?"

"You think you're a man? You don't understand a thing about life or about faith. You're just a boy!"

"I'm more man than you! I look out for my family. Do you? Or is your definition of family so twisted -" he trails off watching Ra'ed shuffle around. It takes Malik a few seconds to realize that the man is searching for something to throw. Before he can get ahold of anything, Malik grimaces. "I'm staying at Yousef's house tonight."

Ra'ed doesn't seem to be paying attention so he repeats himself. "I said I'm leaving."

With a glower that would terrify just about anybody but Malik, Ra'ed hisses, "If you leave tonight, you're not coming back."

This is the very moment which cemented the prospect of murder in Malik's mind. He's never been more sure of anything in his life and yet he's never been more afraid. Murdering Ra'ed is no longer optional -it is obligatory. Leaving would mean that he'd have to leave his mother and sisters alone with that monster and at this point, staying is no longer safe. It's either kill him or be killed and Malik doesn't want to die.

He estimates that, even when compensating for Ra'ed's weight and build, he must at least be stronger than that man. If he were to tackle him to the ground and choke him to death, he might have a chance, but once he went for the kill, there would be no turning back; he'd have to follow through no matter what.

Thankfully, there is a decent distance between the two of them, so he is able to get a running start, pushing past his desk chair and dodging the clutter on the ground. He wonders if Ra'ed has always known that Malik would one day try to kill him -maybe his pride blinded him to that inevitability or maybe he simply accepted it. Maybe that's why he doesn't even step out of the way when Marik pounces like a wolf to his prey.

Ra'ed won't get out of this alive. I promise, he won't.

Ra'ed crumbles to the ground like a mountain, gracelessly and with a deafening thud, and Malik half-heartedly hopes that the marble floor would do him in, but he also knows that thick skull isn't just for show. The roar that escapes Ra'ed's throat unnerves the boy and for a minute he hesitates -he'd be a killer if he succeeds.

A minute is all Ra'ed needs to turn the struggle in his favor, shoving the boy off of him with no more trouble than if he had been fighting a puppy, making him roll off and slam into the wall.

"What do you think you're doing, you ungrateful piece of shit?" he bellows, getting shakily to his feet, dusting off his robe and putting his hand to his brow. "Have you lost your mind? Were you trying to kill me? Did you think you would get away with it?"

Malik rises as well, taking slow deliberate paces towards his step-father, rubbing his shoulder where it had collided with the wall. "I will get away with it. You deserve to die!"

"You can't even sound like a man when you're threatening to kill me! Stop crying!"

Malik doesn't even realize up until that point that there are tears running down his face. Perhaps it really makes sense that the tightness in his lungs isn't solely due to his fury; he's terrified, frustrated, desperate. Most of all, he doesn't want to die.

With an angry and almost animalistic cry, Malik rushes towards Ra'ed, throwing his fist at him with all his weight, feeling the pain as it collides with Ra'ed's solid chest. "You bastard!" Malik yells, trying to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke.

The stairs! he thinks with a desperate emotion that isn't quite hope, but comes as close as it can. If he could only get Ra'ed over there, there would be no way for him to get out of that fall unscathed. With that single urgent thought in mind, he begins to push their fight in that direction.

Years of pain, of tears, of strife… it could all be over. His mother would hate him for it, but he wouldn't care. She would finally be safe -and maybe she would find it in her heart to forgive him. His sisters would finally be free to do whatever they pleased without fearing his watchful eyes and his judgemental fists. Malik would take care of all of them as the new man of the house; he would make sure everyone was safe and happy just like they were when his father was still alive. He'd have to get a full-time job, of course, to pay the bills… and his college scholarship wouldn't be able to cover all of his expenses… but he feels, for the first time, that he could really do it.

"Get out of my house!" Ra'ed keeps howling, his voice echoing throughout the villa. "Get out and never come back!"

Malik can see little Shahed poking her head through the door to her bedroom as they pass by; he hates that she had to see him like this, but he'll explain everything later. He knows she's afraid of her step-father. And they're almost at the staircase… It's almost over.

"Get out! Get out!" Ra'ed screams, his voice now completely indistinguishable from a rabid beast's.

Almost there…

"Get out!"

Before Malik can make that final push and end it all, he feels himself lose his footing, the sensation of Ra'ed's grubby fingers still firmly on his chest. The ground disappears from beneath his feet and his hands race to find something to hold on to -something to make this stop happening. His hand feels the smooth polished wood of the railing, only to slip off and grasp desperately at the air.

This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't supposed to happen.

"Malik!" a tiny voice screams, "No-" Her voice is muffled -no doubt by Ra'ed. It's the last thing Malik hears before his neck crashes into the sharp edge of one of the marble steps…

DestroyerOfWorlds is now OFFLINE

SpookyFingerFoods: malik? malik you still there?

Serenity's auburn hair brushes against Malik's golden helmet as he carries the girl away from Sun. His transmogrification gave him a pair of wings, and there is no way she would have been able to keep up with him on foot.. He doesn't know what's going on and he doesn't really care, but if anything were to happen to Serenity, Lorna would die, and he can't let that happen. He does know, however, that he can't go on like this forever. They have to fight their pursuer eventually.

"Watch out!" Serenity warns, alerting him to a large stone which seems to have risen out of the ground; he's sure it wasn't there before. He stops in his tracks and gingerly sets Serenity down beside him, the two of them facing Sun with their backs flat against the cold stone. She can feel dampness on her back through the fabric of her robes, which isn't surprising since it has since started to rain quite heavily.

Sun looks like a demon with her ink black hair made even darker by the water. She's half-way through her transmogrification, which has grown all over her skin like a disease, making it grey and hard, almost as though she were covered in small flat pebbles, with her pale flesh appearing sparsely through the cracks. "You won't ruin this for me!" she shrieks, her voice deep and gravelly, almost monstrous. "I won't let you ruin me!"

Malik and Serenity don't know what she's talking about and they don't have much time to ruminate on her words before she raises one trembling hand and several stones, each roughly the size of a volleyball, emerged from the earth, leaving craters in their place. She extends her arm abruptly and flings them towards her opponents. Malik grabs Serenity by the shoulders and pushes her down to the ground, causing the rocks to narrowly miss them, shattering against the stone structure behind them.

"Why are you doing this?" Serenity tries to yell over the sound of the wind.

"It's no use. She's hysterical," Malik informed her, watching Sun's body twitch and quiver, her eyes never quite focusing on them, but rather staring off into the distance, searching for something only she can see. Her knees buckle beneath her and she drops to the ground, placing her hands against the ground she had just destroyed. Her back arches, her eyes roll back into her skull, and she lets out a deafening scream without an ounce of humanity in it. The stone is spreading over her body, her skin drying and hardening and her bones rearranging themselves.

"What's happening to her?" Serenity pleads, unconsciously leaning into Malik's armored chest, trying to distance herself from whatever is going on before her.

"That… wasn't her final form," Malik replies weakly, his grip on Serenity tightening as he brings them both up from their crouch.

Arching her neck in front of them and growling erratically, is no longer the human Sun, but what looks suspiciously like a wingless dragon -far too large to be a mere lizard. There are heavy stone scales lining her spine and shielding her powerful legs. She roars powerfully at them, baring two rows of deadly sharp teeth, her crimson eyes flashing menacingly at them. She crawls towards them, her steps sending miniature shockwaves throughout the earth.

"Can we even fight that?" Serenity whispers, pressing her back against the wall.

Malik sucks in a deep breath, clenching his fist and looking at her from the corner of his eye. "If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna have to. You can fight, right?"

"I think so," she replies uncertainly.

He hesitates, groaning internally. "Good enough. Follow my lead." He steps away from Serenity and breaks out into a run, meeting Sun head-on. She can still control the earth around her and even more dangerously in this form, making it no easy task to get close to her. He nearly trips over a stone that rises more quickly than he can expect it, but ends up hopping over it in a move that looks more rehearsed that it feels. Swerving around another flying rock, he manages to get within a foot of the dragon, bending his knees and taking one large leap to land on her leg.

Serenity, her hands shaking around the silver bow she had timidly taken out, dodges the debris flying at her. Malik is doing a good job of distracting Sun, but he's depending on Serenity to do her part, and she can only feel anxious about playing her role in this. She pulls an arrow frantically from her quiver and nocks it, holding it steadily. Her eyes roam over the struggle between Malik and Sun, watching him grab her neck roughly and pull it up, keeping it steady against her instinctive flailing. He's giving Serenity a chance and she can't waste it.

She looks at the dragon from above the tip of her arrow and carefully aims it at Sun's head. She can't help but let out a shudder at the thought of her arrow meeting its target. This isn't just a dragon -it's Sun… Her arms move slowly and steadily, in contrast with the beating of her heart and the shivering of her lungs, and shutting her natural pair of eyes, leaving only the third one open, she looses the arrow, watching it cut through the air sharply like a bullet and lodge itself through Sun's mouth, at the back of her neck.

Sun's body lurches and Malik nearly flies off. She lets out a pained howl, biting down on the protruding shaft, breaking the hard silver with unnatural ease. Serenity almost lets out a sigh of relief as she opens her eyes again, knowing she hasn't killed Sun, only incapacitated her.

"Now get her in the eye!" Malik orders, clenching his fingers around her scales and closing his legs around her back.

"I c-can't!" Serenity says, her naturally high pitched voice almost impossibly shrill now. "I don't want to kill her!"

"You won't!" he reassures her. "The Inbetween will heal her eventually. We just have to stop her from actually killing us, because I don't think she's going to be as nice as you are. Once she's down for the count, we have to find Lorna."

"Lorna?" she asks earnestly. Nevertheless, she secures another arrow and gets to work, trying to aim at Sun's constantly fidgeting head. The scales protecting Sun's eyes are greatly impeding her, preventing her from getting a clear shot, and she supposes that means they're doing their job. She releases the arrow, watching it soar past Sun's head, narrowly missing Malik's own head.

"Careful with that!" he complains, moving his head down slightly to use the dragon's head as a shield. He's glad Serenity can't see how pale his face is underneath his helmet, because the girl is already a nervous wreck. His heart jumps when he feels the stones beneath him begin to shift. Sun is now walking slowly towards Serenity.

Serenity bites her lip, her confidence shaken from her miss, and at the sight of the dragon growing ever closer, she whispers, "Oh no…" She pulls the arrow back against the bowstring, releasing it in a panic and watching it miss the target by an even greater margin.

Malik tightens his grip on Sun and slams his boot into her hind leg, trying to slow her down. "Concentrate, Serenity!" he begs, repeatedly pounding on the hard scales with his feet, desperately trying to break the stone. His efforts, however, seem to do little outside of making the dragon even more irritable.

Inhaling deeply, Serenity tries to cool her nerves, reaching for another arrow. She fixes it in place and aims again, leaving only the eye on her brow open; it narrows her field of vision but gives her more precision. She remembers that it was this eye alone that gave her her edge in her last fight, so perhaps she needs to keep her other eyes closed -which is easier said than done without the help of her blindfold.

Where Yami Marik could once hear a great commotion, everything is very silent. He doesn't much care for the quiet, for what sort of pleasant morning would it be without the sound of someone pleading for mercy? It doesn't take long for his morning to take a turn for the more interesting, however.

The soft shuffling of feet comes from behind his door, accompanied by nails scratching desperately against the metal. He grins widely, making his way towards the door to click on the unlock button, letting in his unruly visitor.

Her hair is ruffled and her sweat-soaked clothes are clinging to her skin, but he'd recognize that lost expression anywhere. After all, it was all Malik thought about. What a pathetic person, to love someone who doesn't even remember him. He chuckles to himself and notes that Lorna's face isn't even moving aside from the slight twitching of her lips. Her eyes sockets are also black, like someone had removed the organs from her head and left bubbling and oozing liquid in its place.

He realizes with a smirk that the girl isn't truly there. It wouldn't be the first time he's had to deal with an empty husk, but none have been so wonderfully devastated as her body appears in front of him. She hobbles towards him, her brow tightening, and in a moment of weakness, his legs take him back a few steps.

Before she can make her next move, he hears the unmistakable sound of his sister crying out. His jaw tightens and his hand reaches for his Millennium Rod. "It seems I have more pressing issues to deal with," he informs her, though he doubts she (or whatever is inhabiting her body) is really listening to him.

Lorna juts out her left arm, effectively blocking his way. Her bare skin blisters and morphs like viscous liquid and, curiosity getting the better of him, he sticks around. Her skin begins to leap, stretch and change color until it takes on the form of a duel disk. And now, Yami Marik is truly intrigued. "You want a duel?" he asks. "Depends on who you are and what the stakes are," he says, but he's already formulating his duel strategy.

The husk opens its mouth and black smoke bursts out, nearly obscuring Lorna's face. Its speed shaping a gust of wind that blows back the sheets on Marik's bed and makes his hair stand on end.

"Not much of a talker then, are you?" he replies, fastening his own duel disk. "Good. It's less annoying that way."

Lorna's body begins shuffling her deck, placing it in the disk slot as soon as she finishes. She draws six cards and stares expectantly at him through the dark caverns in her face.

Just as Yami Marik draws his own hand, he spots Ishizu standing in the doorway of his room, concern on her face. "Marik!" she exclaims, getting both his and the husk's attention. "Use your rod!" she orders. He raises his brow. She must know that her real brother isn't inhabiting this body anymore. "You need to declare a shadow game."

He smiles. That certainly isn't what he expected from that troublesome woman, but he is feeling benevolent today, so he grabs the Rod with his free hand and addresses his sister. "Ask and you shall receive, my dear Ishizu."

How 'bout that ending? ;D Yeah I know Melvin doesn't make up for my lateness, but hey, who DOESN'T love Melvin, amirite ladies (and... um.. people of other genders who may or may not be reading)? ;D ;D ;D