WARNING: This chapter contains . . .
Violence: None
Language: None
Drugs: None
Nudity: None
Sexual Content: None
Edit Update: 10/29/2015
Re-Uploaded
As he readjusted the straps on his backpack, Marik felt a wave of guilt wash over him. It had been quite obvious from her expression that Ishizu was troubled that her little brother wanted to travel back to Domino City alone. They had just begun their life as a real family, and yet he had pushed his siblings aside. He couldn't explain his strange behavior. It would only make them worry about him, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause them more pain. He had created enough misery already.
"Yoohoo!" A blond woman wearing a rather revealing corset and a mini skirt ran across the airport, making all of the men stop and stare, until she came to a stop in front of the sullen Egyptian. "Remember me?"
Marik took a step back. She was standing a bit too close for comfort. "Mai, right?"
"That's me." She gave him a wink before wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "I'm the one who was sent here to pick you up. But enough chitchat." Her smile disappeared as she shoved him forward. "Let's get going already. We don't want to miss the party, after all."
Before he knew it, Marik found himself in a convertible with Mai, who placed one hand on the wheel and drove at high speed with the ease of an experienced race car driver. As the wind whipped his hair back, he wished he was driving to the mansion on his motorcycle, but instead he had let Yugi talk him into being picked up at the airport by a woman he barely knew. And her large chest only made him sink into his seat as he tried his best to ignore it. He missed his motorbike. The feel of the engine's roar. The terrain under its wheels. The smell of the exhaust. And only his private thoughts to keep him company.
"I don't think we've ever been properly introduced." Mai pointed out.
"No, we haven't." Marik said as he watched the scenery pass them by in a blur of buildings and trees.
"Although I did get to know your other self a bit too well."
Marik remained silent. His dark self had almost killed her, and that wasn't something that he was proud of or wanted to casually talk about like one would about the weather.
"To tell you the truth," Mai continued, "I was hoping that you weren't just a slightly tamer version of him."
He glared at Mai with a mixture of dread and anger as he clenched his fist. In the past, he would have probably killed her, and he could feel the temptation to do just that.
Mai saw his expression and smiled as she rubbed the top of his head with her free hand. "Don't worry. You'll be happy to know that I can't see the resemblance."
"Where is this Christmas party we're going to?" Marik asked, trying to change the subject as he wished that she would stop tousling his hair.
"It's taking place at some rich boy's mansion." She paused for a moment. "If I play my cards right, I might end up living in the lap of luxury. Although I did hear that he's around Kaiba's age. If that's the case, he's too young for me."
"Can you please stop?" Marik was referring to her hand still resting on his blond head.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She began rubbing him more vigorously as she scowled at him. "Don't you appreciate being touched by a beautiful woman like me? I know a man who would give his right arm to-"
"Watch the road!"
While her eyes had been on Marik, the car had gone into the wrong lane, where a truck was plowing through. But it didn't faze Mai, who simply turned the wheel, making the convertible go back onto the right side of the road a split second before the truck whizzed past them. Marik sunk even further into his seat, wishing more than ever that he had been going to the party alone.
"That was fun." Mai said, making Marik question her sanity, before she glanced his way, flashing him a grin. "Have you ever been with a girl?"
"Why would you ask me that?" He had half a mind to get out and walk the rest of the way.
"I didn't think so." She winked. "Yugi told me all about you, and there aren't many dating opportunities inside of a tomb." When she saw that he was trying to ignore her, she went on. "Maybe when we get to the party, I can hook you up with someone." Her eyebrows lowered. "But don't you even think about approaching Serenity."
"Because you think I'll try to kill her?" For a few seconds there was a thick silence as he waited for her to admit that she was afraid of him. That all of them were.
"Of course not!" Mai exclaimed, as if she thought that what he had just said was the stupidest thing she had ever heard in her life. "That poor girl already has two lover boys chasing after her. Three men would just be a headache. And I don't think you're her type." She looked at him again and smirked. "You are kinda cute, though. If you were older and a bit richer, I'd think you were quite a catch."
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
Mai turned her head slightly towards Marik. She had to admit, even though he was just a teenager, there was something intimidating about him. A darkness in his lavender eyes that told you he probably wouldn't care if you dropped dead at his feet, and that he was probably responsible for it. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." She admitted as she looked away. "But I've also done things I'm not proud of that have hurt people to get something I want. Nothing as bad as you, of course." She laughed, which made Marik glare at her in response before she waved a dismissive hand at him. "Don't be so serious. My point is that all of us have done things that we regret. Even Yugi has."
Marik highly doubted that. Yugi was an all around good kid who hadn't even been willing to let his friend die to save himself.
Mai turned on the radio, putting it on full blast before she continued, shouting to be heard over the music. "Just put the past behind you and enjoy life! You'll be happier that way!"
Marik opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it. There was no point in telling her that he didn't deserve happiness. It was true that Yugi and his friends had forgiven him, and he was glad that Ishizu, Odion, and himself were now living as a family, but he was still plagued with his old sins. After all, his dark half was born from his own hatred. His other self was gone now, but that didn't mean that there was no longer any evil inside of him.
"Stop moping!" Mai said as she grabbed Marik's cheek and pulled before letting go, allowing it to snap back into place. "I'm trying to have fun in here and you're ruining the mood. Do you even know how to have fun?"
Marik rubbed his sore cheek and didn't answer.
"When we get to that party, I'm going to show you a good time. And I'll make you smile even if it's the last thing I do."
