Chapter Thirty-Six

By the time I woke back up again, the duel had been won. I got out of bed and walked through the blimp to Joey's room, where my things were. I felt like I was wandering aimlessly for a while, but finally I found it. Images flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. Still, I knew. Kaiba had won his duel with Ishizu. And true to his usual skeptic self, he had walked away from visions with the declaration that there was no destiny, there was only his superior dueling skills.

I smiled and laughed to myself over how stubborn Kaiba was. For a second, I saw things through Kaiba's eyes as he made his way to another room with Mokuba. I stopped and shook my head to stop myself from getting too dizzy and confused. I closed my eyes and pushed the images away.

"Gods, how do you live with this?" Marik asked, inside my head.

I shuddered a little, forgetting that he could see what I saw. "What do you mean?" I asked out loud.

"You're just walking and all of the sudden, you see someone else instead of what's in front of you," Marik said. "It must get frustrating."

"I'm used to it," I lied.

"Sure," said Marik. "You know I know that you're lying, right?"

"Shove off," I murmured. "I've got to go get changed and check on Bakura."

"Are you in love with him?" asked Marik.

"Please," I rolled my eyes. "I'm not in love with anyone."

"He scares you. You're afraid of the spirit of the millennium ring," said Marik.

"I'm not afraid of anything, Marik," I said.

"Do you love Kaiba then?" asked Marik. "I can see your thoughts, Olive. Filled with boys. Bakura, Kaiba, me, Duke."

"Whatever," I grumbled.

I walked into Joey's room, picked out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt for bed. I went into the bathroom and, when I looked in the mirror, I could see Marik's image reflected in my eyes. "Weird," I commented, leaning in closer to see. "I can sort of see you."

Marik smiled.

"Wait! I can read it...that Egyptian text is completely clear to me!" I heard Kaiba think, startled.

I let out a cry of surprise and pain and leaned over the sink.

"Used to it, huh?" asked Marik.

"Attention duelists!" an intercom crackled loudly to life. "Round one of the Battle City finals is now complete! The four remaining finalists are Yugi, Joey, Kaiba, and Marik. The competition will resume tomorrow when we land at our next dueling site."

"Congrats, Marik," I smirked, looking in the mirror. "I hear you're a finalist."

"Shut up, Olive," he said.

"I need to shower and change," I said. I pointed at the mirror. "You go hide somewhere in my head, Marik. I don't need you...looking."

"No promises," he said.

I blushed. "This is weird," I said.

I shed my clothes and got into the shower. I showered quickly so that it wouldn't remain awkward for too long and pulled my clothes on quickly. I passed Joey, Yugi, and Tea in the hall on my way to Bakura's room and stopped to talk.

"Olive!" Tea cried. "Should you be up?"

"I'm fine, Tea, I promise," I said. "I'm feeling a lot better. I was just going to check on Bakura."

She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me into a hug. "Oh, Olive, I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried!"

"We're going to check on Mai," said Joey.

"Good," I said. "I'll go with you really quick. How was the duel?"

"Kaiba won," said Tea.

"I have a feeling you already knew that," said Joey, smiling.

I laughed. "What can I say?" I asked. "How'd Ishizu do?"

"She put up a good fight," said Joey.

"How'd you know it was Ishizu who dueled Kaiba?" asked Yugi.

"We spoke a few hours ago," I explained.

"You guys have some serious resting to do," Tea said to the boys.

"Yea," said Yugi. "This tournament has been pretty intense so far."

"You said it, Yugi," Joey agreed.

"Well, it can't get much worse," said Tea sadly. "Bakura and Odion are knocked out and Mai's in the shadow realm. Not to mention, you were attacked and we thought you might die," she said to me.

"And it's all because of Marik and his evil plan," said Yugi.

I felt a pang of guilt inside my mind from Marik.

"Feeling bad?" I thought.

After a minute of silence, he admitted, "A little bit."

"Don't worry, Yugi," said Joey, reassuringly. "We'll find a way to stop that creep. Now let's check up on Mai."

We walked to the door and Yugi went to open it.

"Greetings, Yugi," said a voice.

We turned.

"Ishizu!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Sister," Marik thought, sounding sad.

"I am sorry about what happened to your friend," said Ishizu. "May I pay her a visit with you?"

Yugi nodded and we all entered the room. Duke and Tristan were already there.

For a second, Ishizu's eyes lingered on me, as if I looked different and she was trying to figure out why. Then she just smiled and gave me a little bow.

"Hey, Serenity," said Tea. "How's Mai?"

"Quiet," said Serenity.

"We gotta get her mind back!" Tea exclaimed.

"We will," I said. "If I have to force Marik, we will."

"That's almost sexy," Marik said, in my mind.

I ignored him.

"Serenity, has she said a word?" asked Joey.

Serenity shook her head. "Nope, not a thing," she said.

"Poor Mai," said Joey. "I'm sorry I let you down. But mark my words, I promise you'll get your revenge against that Marik."

"No, Joey," said Serenity. "Can't you see that anger and revenge will only make things worse? That's just how Mai got this way. Marik is so full of anger and hate that he gets pleasure from watching other people suffer."

"That jerk," said Joey.

"When I took my bandages off, this is not what I wanted to see," said Serenity, her voice quivering. She covered her eyes with her hands and started to cry.

"Serenity, it'll be okay," said Tea, rubbing her back comfortingly.

I knelt in front of her and took her hands. I wasn't sure how I knew what to do, but I felt warmth leave my hands and enter hers, calming and comforting her. "It'll be okay, Serenity," I said, quietly, but with confidence. She looked at me. I reached up and smoothed her hair back. "It's going to be alright. I promise."

"Your eyes look...purple..." Serenity whispered.

"Olive has green eyes, Serenity," said Duke. "Even though she doesn't date guys with green eyes."

"You must be tired," said Tristan.

"I'm sorry, Serenity," said Joey. "You're right. Olive's right."

"There is hope ahead," said Ishizu. "For where there is evil, there is also good. Marik was good once. He began life as an innocent child, like everyone does."

Involuntarily, I turned my head and looked at Ishizu. I shuddered, knowing Marik was the one who had turned to look at his sister.

"But that innocence disappeared," Ishizu continued, sadly. "It left my brother with a dark hole where his heart once was. I remember when this evil was born. It happened on the night that Marik received the tomb keeper's initiation." My own back began to burn as Marik remembered getting the scriptures tattooed on his back. "He inherited the task of protecting the Pharaoh's tomb - a task he always resented. Now this dark presence has completely taken over my brother's body."

"Ishizu, what happens if there's no way to save your brother?" asked Yugi, gently.

Ishizu frowned.

"It's not," I said. "If I can survive an attack from Ra, then I sure as hell can help save Marik."

"It may be too late," Yugi insisted. "Ishizu, you said it was my destiny to save the world from destruction. I thought that meant defeating your brother and putting an end to his plan, not saving him."

"Yugi," I said again. "Ishizu also said that I was here to guide you and that I knew things. She said to trust my instincts. Marik can be saved, Yugi. There is still good in him."

"After all I've done, you really think that highly of me?" Marik thought.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Yugi's got a point, Ishizu," said Joey. "What if it's too late to save Marik from the evil that's inside him. I mean, you've gotta admit, the guy's about as nasty as they come."

"Yea. It's hard to imagine him ever being nice," Tea added.

"Not only did none of you know him when he was young, but I met him last summer, remember?" I asked. I couldn't explain my belief in Marik, but it was there.

"Just because you guys made out doesn't make him a nice guy, Olive," said Tristan.

I shook my head. "He's a good person," I insisted.

"Thank you, Olive," said Ishizu. "If anyone would be able to sense it, it would be you. You all must trust me. I know there is hope. There's still a lot that you don't understand. It wasn't that long ago that my brother began to lose his way and turn towards the darkness. For generations, my family has lived in secrecy, deep beneath the desert sands, watching over the tomb of the Pharaoh. For five thousand years, an Ishtar has stood guard, waiting for Pharaoh to return." Memories, both Ishizu's and Marik's, ran through my mind and I sat on the ground and closed my eyes. "As the firstborn Ishtar son, Marik was required to have the Pharaoh's secret on his back and forbidden to ever leave the tomb. But there was one night that Marik insisted we leave the tomb. I had promised to take him outside one day and Marik did not want to wait. I told him the outside world was off limits to us, but he insisted it would be alright. He told me to relax and that Odion would cover for us. He said our father would never suspect a thing. He pleaded with me and eventually, I gave in. I told him that after one hour, we had to come home and we could never speak of this again." Ishizu sighed. "He was so excited to finally see the outside world and so I led her out of the tomb. I knew we were violating my family's code, but I also knew that Marik deserved to see the light of the outside world at least once in his life. I didn't realize that his exposure to this light would cause the darkness within him to grow."

"All I wanted was a normal life," Marik explained to me, in my mind. "I never wanted to be a tomb keeper. I wanted my own life."

"We went to the market place and Marik was so excited. He was excited by the people and by all the things. He was so happy, even though I told him not to get attached and not to touch anything, but he picked up a book that was lying on the ground," Ishizu continued. "He found a picture of a motorcycle in the book and on a television. He became obsessed with the idea of having a motorcycle one day and I told him we had to go. I had to get him home. He'd seen too much. So he tore the picture of the motorcycle out of the book and we turned to go home. Shadi was there," she glanced at me, "with Olive, when she was a child. We had met Olive once before, when she told our father that Odion was not allowed to go through the tomb keeper's initiation. She was just young - a year younger than Marik."

"Me?" I asked, looking up.

Ishizu nodded.

"That's strange," I said. "But Odion was thinking about the past earlier, when he dueled, and I saw myself in his memories. I remember the shirt I was wearing and everything. It was...really weird. I don't remember that at all and I didn't know I ever went to Egypt."

"There is a lot you do not remember, but it will come back to you, Priestess," said Ishizu. "Shadi told us that the Pharaoh would soon return to this world and that we had to prepare for him. He told us to ready ourselves because our lives and our destiny depended on it. Olive told us that if we rejected our sacred duty, the future would bring nothing by tragedy. I remember she looked at my brother when she said this. I asked both of them how they knew so much, but Shadi turned and left and Olive disappeared. I knew I had made a great mistake. As the keepers of the Pharaoh's tomb, we were forbidden to see the world and I was beginning to understand why. I was about to pay the price for my actions. I had exposed Marik to a world he should never have seen and this caused Marik to reject our family, resent the Priestess and the Pharaoh, and his evil side grew. We ran after Shadi, but he was gone. Marik asked me many questions, but I wouldn't answer. I told him to forget everything he'd seen and I took him home."

"You resented me?" I thought.

"Of course," Marik replied. "I hated you, Olive. You were the reason that I was trapped underground as a tomb keeper."

"Why did you become my friend in Egypt?" I asked.

"I wasn't entirely sure of who you were," Marik admitted. "I had my suspicions, but I didn't want to be right, Olive. I really liked you..." he trailed off.

"Now that Marik had seen the outside world, forgetting it was an impossible task," Ishizu continued. The memories flooding my mind made me wince in pain, but I wanted to see them. "Marik didn't want to go back, but I told him it wasn't our choice. I believe that was when Marik decided that he was going to abandon his destiny as a tomb keeper. He followed me down the stairs, but I realized there was an alarm. Our father knew that we'd left the tomb. My father had used the millennium rod to weaken Odion out of anger. He wanted Odion to leave and never return. Our father was furious with us. Marik began to cry out in pain and his darker side took over. He laughed at our father and took the millennium rod. He used it to banish our father to the shadow realm. He even used the millennium rod against me. When he tried to kill Odion, Olive reappeared with Shadi and stopped him. Shadi told him to turn back before it was too late."

"Marik's anger and jealousy fueled the darkness inside him," Yugi thought.

"I can't believe I was there..." I thought.

"Yes, and you had such control over your powers," Marik added.

"Lady, I'm supposed to feel sorry for Marik because he grew into some evil nutcase?" Joey demanded. "Look, your brother trapped Mai's mind in the shadow realm. Now she's living out her worst nightmares and I'm gonna make sure he pays!"

"Yugi, it is possible to destroy the evil within my brother without destroying the good. I realize now that destiny can be changed," said Ishizu.

"But how?" asked Yugi.

"As the Pharaoh's vessel, you have the power to do it," Ishizu said.

"Attention duelists," came a voice over the intercom. "Lights out in ten minutes."

"Alright! Time to crash in Joey's suite," said Tristan.

"What are you talking about?" Joey demanded.

"Come on, your room's like a palace," said Tristan. "You'll never even know that I'm there."

"Oh, I'll know," said Joey. "I'll know by the smell. Serenity, sweet dreams. You too," he added to Tea.

"Get some rest," said Serenity.

"What room are you staying in, Olive?" asked Joey.

"Well, I'm going to check on Bakura," I said. "But after that I'll probably come back here and crash on the couch."

"Yugi, with Olive's permission, there is one more thing I must give to you," said Ishizu. "It is a powerful object that I no longer have any use for."

"Thanks. What is it?" asked Yugi.

She undid the millennium necklace from around her neck. "With your permission, Priestess, I think my time with this item has ended," she said.

I nodded, not entirely sure why she needed my permission.

She handed Yugi the millennium necklace.

"Joey, let's head back to the room before lights out," said Tristan. The boys left.

Ishizu left a few moments later and, a few second later, I followed.

"Olive," Marik said, inside my head. "I need a favor. And you're not going to like it. I need you to use the millennium ring to deliver my spirit into Bakura."

Alarm ran through my body. "Marik, I won't touch the millennium ring," I said. "It burns me. I can't..."

"Let me take over, Olive," said Marik. "I will hold it so that it doesn't hurt you."

"No," I said.

"Olive, you're still weak. I can take over if I want to, but I'd rather have your permission," Marik responded. "Now just close your eyes. Relax."

After a second of hesitation, I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. I felt as if I were taking a step back and Marik took a step forward. This time, when I walked forward, I knew it was Marik controlling my body. It made me feel almost nauseated inside, but I sat back and let him.

The millennium ring appeared in his hands out of nowhere and he headed for Bakura's room.

"Let me show you a trick, Priestess," he said, out loud, using my voice.

There was a sound like a loud wind and I felt my body grow nauseated again - the amusement park ride feeling. Suddenly, we were in the doorway of Bakura's room.

"That's how I got in the way of the winged dragon's attack," I thought.

"I thought as much," said Marik.

"How do you know how to use my powers?" I asked.

"I've studied you for years."

We walked into Bakura's room and I set the millennium on his pillow beside his head. It began to glow and Bakura's eyes snapped open. With feeling like a sigh, Marik was suddenly gone from my mind. He reassured me that he'd return if he needed too and I felt him leave me and enter Bakura's mind.

Bakura looked at me. I knew the spirit of the millennium ring was controlling him the second we made eye contact. He smiled at me.

"Why thank you, Olive," he said. "What did you do to heal me?"

"Marik is inside your mind," I said. "He needs your help with something."

"I see," said Bakura, sitting up. "Did you miss me?"

"No," I said, quickly.

"Are you lying?" he asked.

I hesitated and he laughed.

"I knew you missed me," he said, in his dark voice. "Come here," he ordered.

I thought about refusing, but then I moved closer to him. He wrapped his arms around me and pushed me down on the bed. He laid his head on my chest and breathed in deeply.

"You smell like lavender and...jasmine," he said.

"Thanks, I think," I said, feeling slightly nervous.

"That's how you always smelled in ancient Egypt," he said. "Your temple was filled with lavender incense and jasmine candles to clear your mind." He looked up at me and got on all fours, staring down at me. "When all of this is over, when I am the most powerful being in the world, you will be mine."

"I don't belong to anyone," I said, without thinking.

"We've been over this," he said, "and yes you do."

I propped myself up with one arm and ran my fingers through his hair. I pulled him towards me and kissed him. He kissed me back. I laid back down, pulling him with me. He kissed my lips, my face, my neck. He pulled my t-shirt over my head and kissed my skin, nipping just slightly too roughly on my collarbone. But I didn't feel the pain. I moaned and that was when I remembered. Marik was in his mind too.

I smiled and pushed him away.

"I can't do this, Kura," I said. "Marik's inside your head. I don't want to be kissing both of you at the same time. It's weird."

Bakura laughed. "Have it your way," he said. "I suppose I can wait a little while longer."

"Where are you going?" I asked him, when he stood up.

"Why? Worried about me?" he asked, smirking.

I pulled my shirt back on and stood up.

"I am going to challenge Marik's dark side to a duel, Olive," said Bakura. "Marik and I have made a deal. If I defeat his dark side, then he will give me the millennium rod."

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Do you know where I can find him?"

I closed my eyes and focused until I could sense his energy. "He's headed for Odion's room," I said. I stood on tip toes and kissed him again. "Let me show you a new trick I learned," I added. Before Bakura could ask me what I was talking about or protest, I grabbed his hand. The world spun and we were in Odion's dark room.