Back to the grindstone tomorrow. Spent my lovely 5 days off playing GTA5, watching Vox Machina (which is hilarious and amazing by the way!), and tabbing between LibreOffice and Google. My NSA agent was probably concerned until the long strings of 'synonym' searches started showing up.
Official intro of my OC this chapter! :D
Marik had to admit he was impressed with how quickly Bakura could throw up the facade of being fine, knowing just below the surface the Spirit was falling apart. He supposed it had something to do with all the practice Bakura had at imitating his host. The Spirit had spent years pretending to be a sweet and innocent young boy, pretending to be a sadistic jerk was probably easy in comparison. He watched as Bakura took his seat, looking a bit more enthusiastic than he had the other day.
Yugi leaned forward and tapped the Egyptian on the shoulder to get his attention. "So, did you find out what you wanted?"
"Pretty much."
"And?"
"It's not my place to repeat what was said. Nothing against you or the Pharaoh, but you'll just have to ask Bakura about the conversation yourself."
Yugi was a bit taken aback. Marik had been very open and forthcoming about everything since moving to Domino. Now he was going to hide a conversation that was had between him and his former partner-in-crime?
Yugi didn't have to look at the Pharaoh's ethereal form beside him to know he was glaring suspiciously at the blonde Egyptian sitting before him.
"Didn't I warn you that those two might be up to something?"
Yugi tried his best to hide his newfound doubts towards his roommate, but Yami easily sensed them.
"Yugi, I know you want to see the good in everyone, but not everyone has good in them."
"Stop! We don't know what was said. We can't just assume they're planning something! You saw Bakura...something isn't right with him! Maybe he told Marik something personal and Marik is just being respectful." Yugi tried to argue back. He hated doubting one of his friends, especially after seeing how much they were trying to change.
Yami sighed, then vanished back into the Puzzle.
Yugi hated fighting with the Pharaoh, but ever since Marik moved in with him it seemed they were arguing a lot. The Egyptian had only been with them for two weeks and Yugi could count the number of arguments between Yami and himself on both hands. And it was always pretty much the same argument: Yami would accuse Marik of planning or doing something suspicious with Yugi jumping in to defend Marik. Each fight would end the same with Yami withdrawing back into the Puzzle. Yugi didn't like to think it, but he wondered if the Pharaoh was right this time. Marik had obviously played them once, what if he was doing it again?
No, I'll talk to Bakura and find out what was said. I'm certain it's nothing like before.
Class had started as Yugi made up his mind. He would find out what Marik wouldn't tell him. He would prove to the Pharaoh that the Tomb Keeper and the Spirit of the Ring weren't planning anything. That Marik had actually changed and could be trusted.
As the lunch bell sounded, Yugi's friends all began their usual trek to the roof….minus Yugi. He had stayed behind and cornered Bakura.
"What do you want?" Bakura said irritably in his usual gruff tone.
"I want to know what you and Marik talked about." Yugi stared at the Spirit with determination in his eyes.
The Spirit simply looked back at him with a bored expression. "He just wanted to know a bit more about the statue in my Soul Room, so I told him."
"And?" Yugi knew there had to be more. Marik would have told him otherwise.
"And what? I suppose you want to know about it too?"
"Yes."
Bakura looked away, debating if he wanted to repeat the conversation on the roof. "He asked about the half-heart that used to be there. I told him that in my early years in the Ring I experienced something emotionally painful, that I went mad and attempted to rip out my own heart. I only managed to rip out half of it, but the pain was gone so I left it at that. Ryou vanishing somehow restored my missing fragment, and now I'm both mentally and emotionally fucked up. Now if you're happy, I have to make sure this body gets some food in it. I swear all this thing does is scream at me to be fed or to rest. I forgot how needy a living body could be." He pushed past the slightly stunned teenager, and left to go find somewhere he wouldn't be bothered.
"See Yami, I was right!" Yugi's faith in his friend had been restored.
"You honestly trust his words?" the Pharaoh replied skeptically.
"Well, yeah. It did sound kind of personal, with a touch of the Bakura we know. I'm certain the story we got was the layman's version, but it pretty much covers what we wanted to know."
Yami smiled at his host. "I swear I'll never figure you out. It's as if you have this instinctive nature to try and seek out the light in everyone."
Yugi chuckled. "It's just who I am I guess!"
The rest of the day was strangely uneventful. As were the next few days. They had made it to the end of the week and the only thing of note was that Bakura and Marik appeared to start hanging out a bit more while at school. When an assignment called for partners Marik would automatically go over and choose Bakura (much to the dismay of Ryou's fan-girls), which Marik later confided with his roommate that it almost felt like cheating since Bakura already knew everything. They would also sit together on the roof during lunch talking in the Kemetic language (which Yami sheepishly admitted to his host that he was having difficulties understanding). Yami was still slightly convinced that the two were conniving something, but didn't argue when Yugi jumped in to defend them.
"I think it's nice! Bakura probably hasn't had a friend to talk to in a long time!" Yugi communicated enthusiastically.
"What about Ryou? If the Spirit of the Ring had wanted friendship he could have started there." Yami replied scornfully.
"You heard Bakura. He wasn't exactly himself. It took loosing Ryou to become whole again. Now he's all alone and can't even try to make amends with his former host."
Across the roof Bakura said something to Marik, causing both to burst into laughter. The Spirit was actually smiling and enjoying himself. If Yugi and the other's hadn't seen it for themselves, they wouldn't have believed it.
"YO! WHAT'S SO FUNNY?! YOU TALKING SMACK ABOUT US OVER THERE OR SOMETHIN?!" Joey shouted across to the two while shaking his fist in the air.
Bakura and Marik stopped laughing long enough to look over in the other group's direction. Marik said something to Bakura (who scrunched his nose at whatever Marik had suggested), then the two walked over and sat near the rest of the group. The others weren't sure what to make of it, and waited anxiously for someone to break the tension. They didn't have to wait long. Bakura was the one to break the ice.
"Yugi mentioned to you that I was once an Immortal, yes?" It was less a question and more of a confirmation. Everyone slowly nodded their heads. It had only been mentioned by the Spirit once, but that hadn't stopped them from theorizing what he had meant by it. "Good. So...I've only been trapped in the Ring for just shy of fifteen years. Before that I spent a lot of time wandered the globe, and I've encountered some really weird shit. I was just sharing a few of my stories with the Tomb Keeper."
"Such as…?" Tristan asked.
Bakura looked at the group with his usual smirk."Well, the particular tale I was telling was about this time I was invited back to the home of an extremely beautiful woman. Things started getting a bit...steamy...until she tried to kill me. Unsuccessfully I might add. Turns out she was what is known as a 'White Lady', the spirit of a woman that died a violent death. She became very annoyed at the fact that I wasn't staying dead. I'll admit, she was pretty persistent in trying to keep me that way too. Took me a week to hunt down a priest that could properly exorcise her. I don't think I would make it more than a few steps before she tried removing my head or ripping out a handful of organs. It was more annoying than anything. I stuck to public taverns for my trysts after that."
Tea, Yugi, and Tristan stared in disbelief, unsure if they could believe the yarn that had just be spun. Joey on the other hand was doubled over laughing.
"So if she hadn't tried to kill ya, you would have totally gotten your freak on with a ghost!" Joey said between fits of laughter.
Bakura shrugged. "Meh, wouldn't be the worst thing I've bedded. I once woke up next to Hephaestus..." He shuddered at the recollection, his face contorted in a mixture of disgust a horror. "Not sure how I ended up there, nor do I want to know...but I can say with certainty that there is not enough Godaeshan Nectar in all of Sumar to make me forget waking up next to that!"
This caused everyone to laugh. Even Yami couldn't contain his amusement, to Yugi's surprise. The Bakura he and everyone was seeing was completely different than the one they were used to. He was still a bit on the course side, but the Pharaoh couldn't deny that the Bakura before him was not the same Bakura from a month ago.
The Spirit stopped laughing as he looked down to see the Millennium Ring glow. Everyone else stopped as well.
"What's going on?" Yugi questioned.
"I'm not entirely certain?" Bakura replied. He was just as confused as Yugi.
The spiked prongs that dangled from the Ring began to rattle.
"It's detecting something...or someone."
The Millennium Puzzle began to emit a glow as well.
"Please tell me his Royal Highness is just throwing a tantrum in there…" Bakura said, eyeing the other glowing relic.
Yugi shook his head. "No, he's been beside me this entire time. He's just as confused as the rest of us!"
Tea was the first to stand up. "You guys go figure out what's going on. We'll cover for you here at school."
"Better cover for me too because I'm going with them!" Marik added.
Yugi began to protest. "You don't have t-"
"Yes, I do. My family has spent millennia protecting the Pharaoh. Where he goes, I go."
Yugi gave a defeated sigh, then looked over at the Spirit of the Ring. "Alright Bakura, lead the way."
The Millennium Ring led the trio away from the school and deep into the nearby park. The area they traveled through was ominously empty. It was in this area that both relics ceased their glow and the spines of the Ring fell limp.
"Look around, but stay close!" Bakura barked.
"Obviously…" Marik replied abrasively.
The three looked around, but there was nothing to be seen other than grass and trees.
"There's nothing here." Yugi stated in mild confusion. He saw Bakura staring hard towards a small line of trees. "What are-"
"Shhhh!" Bakura hissed. "Someone is running this way…"
The three stood their ground, waiting for whoever was coming towards them. A figure broke through the treeline, running full speed at them.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" the figure shouted, it's cracked voice full of panic.
The hair on the back of Marik's neck rose as a shiver of fear permeated his spine. The voice belonged to the very much alive and very real dark version of himself. He wanted to run away from the entity sprinting towards him, but his legs wouldn't move.
The doppleganger stopped just behind Bakura, crouching low as if hiding from something.
"Wrong person to hide behind, asshole." Bakura commented bitterly.
"Ohhh MAAaal…he already knows that it's your fault…" echoed a female voice in sadistic sing-song fashion.
The doppleganger fell backwards, cowering. "Hehe...so uh….about that…" He nervously tried to worm away from the pale Spirit of the Ring that had turned to glare down at him. Bakura's hands had curled into even paler fists.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't rearrange your face." Bakura's voice was emotionless as he looked down at the craven figure at his feet.
Marik's fear dissipated as he watched his look-alike shrink away from the Spirit of the Ring.
"I can explain! I swear!" the doppleganger exclaimed.
"I'm waiting…"
"I might have...uh...been trying to gather more power...to uh...take on…..um…...our…..sire..." he squeaked out the last bit.
Fury flashed in Bakura's eyes. "You mean to tell me, I've been stuck in this fucking relic for the past decade-and-a-half because you decided to be a fucking moron?!"
"Well, when you...uh...put it that way…" The look-alike sheepishly looked away from the extremely pissed off Spirit of the Ring.
Bakura quickly bent down and grabbed a fistful of the tight black t-shirt the Marik look-alike was wearing, bringing his face in close. He drew back a fist, causing the doppleganger to cringe in preparation for the impact that would follow. Bakura held him like this for a long moment, shaking in rage.
"Consider yourself lucky that I don't want to destroy my host's hand on your stupid face." Bakura coldly threw the look-alike back to the ground.
"Oh Kura...I was so looking forward to a show." echoed the female voice from earlier.
"Quit your games and get down here Kat!" Bakura shouted towards a nearby tree.
"Awww...you're no fun."
A female figure dropped from the branches. Marik recognized her immediately as the woman from his vision. She stood about a centimeter shorter than Yugi, her midnight black waves done up in a long ponytail that cascaded from a bun on the back of her head. She was wearing a black halter-style crop top that appeared to be attached to a thick golden collar. The ruffles of her black mini-lolita skirt bounced lightly with each step she took in Bakura's direction. She completed the outfit with black combat styled boots. The only adornment she wore (other than the golden collar) was a thick golden cuff on her left forearm.
"Want to explain why this fucker isn't still rotting in the Shadow Realm?" Bakura asked irritably, jerking a thumb in the direction of the Marik look-alike.
The girl sighed, appearing bored. "The Elder was pissed when she found out about the tournament bullshit, so they sent me to fish his dumbass out. Now I'm stuck playing babysitter."
"And he was running from you because…"
"I got bored." she shrugged.
Bakura facepalmed. "I don't even want to ask. So why are the two of you even here?"
"Part of his punishment is bringing you before Judgment to see if your magae can be restored."
"Wouldn't that require permanently bonding my soul to a new body?"
"Uh, yeah? You got the body, just gotta go through the whole bonding bullshit, duh." she stated, as though it should have been obvious.
"Time out! Can someone explain what is going on!? Who is she!? And why is he here!?" Marik was beyond confused. He couldn't figure out why his dark half was in front of him, or why the entity was suddenly such a huge coward. He also couldn't figure out what the woman from the vision had to do with any of it, or how Bakura seemed to know both on such a personal level.
The two unnamed figures and Bakura all turned to face Marik and Yugi. It was obvious they had forgotten (or maybe didn't register) the two teens standing there witnessing everything. The Marik look-alike began to rise, brushing himself off. Both Marik and Yugi took a step back as he stood up straight. He was approximately ten centimeters taller than Marik, not including his spiked mane of hair (which gave the impression that he was taller still). He was dressed in head to toe in black, just like the girl. He had on a pair of leather boots, cargo pants, and a very tight fitted t-shirt that formed over the mass of muscle beneath. On his wrists were black leather gauntlets. Silver cuffs adorned the ridges of each ear, with a silver and emerald earring on the left. Around his neck was a thinly beaded wesekh made of silver, emerald, and citrine.
"Yugi, Marik, I present to you the two nut jobs I spent the better part of five millennia with." Bakura began in introduction. "The dumbass that looks like the Tomb Keeper is Malik Ishtar. He was once the Pharaoh's personal Ishtari. He's also the dipshit that I recently learned is the reason I'm stuck in this stupid relic."
Malik stood with his arms crossed, looking away from Bakura and the others.
"You were Ishtari?" Marik queried.
Malik responded by lifting a tight fitted sleeve to reveal a winged sun encircling his bicep, with the outline of a cartouche below it. The name within the cartouche had been badly marred and was no longer readable. It was obvious that the disfigurement had been intentional.
"Looks like I wasn't the only one that had issues with being forced to serve the Pharaoh." Marik commented dryly.
"Being forced? No. I could deal with that. My reasons are on a more personal level." Malik glared bitterly over towards the girl. She mirrored his gaze.
Bakura cleared his throat on an attempt to break the tension the two had formed. "So, anyways, the sadistic freak that's a few cards short of a full deck over here…" he loosely pointed in the girl's direction, "that's Katrina Miamosha. Don't ask about the surname. Nothing about that tiny bundle of crazy makes sense, and we've learned it's best to just hang on for the ride."
As Bakura finished her introduction Katrina's personality shifted from intense loathing towards Malik, to extreme joy at being introduced by Bakura. Her sapphire eyes beamed as she practically pounced on the pale teen, wrapping her golden arms tightly around his body.
"Kura! You forgot the most important part!" she squealed in excitement.
"Oh gods...Kat...please don't…" Bakura plead.
"When Kura was little my Ama-shae took him in...which makes him my adopted brother!"
Bakura's head flopped back in defeat. "Why do I even bother?" He tried to pry his adopted sister from his side, with no success. "You still have to explain this whole 'bonding' thing. What makes you think that's what I want? And what do you mean I already have a body? This one's just on loan from someone else." he eyed her suspiciously.
"Nope! It's yours now!" she spoke excitedly. "Your host left it for you!"
Bakura's eyes grew wide, slowly turning his head to look at the girl attached to his side."Let go of me. Now." he ordered coldly.
"But-"
"NOW."
Kat immediately released him, appearing confused at Bakura's sudden anger that was obviously directed towards her.
"What did you do?" His words were more a demand for answers than a question.
Kat lowered her head, realizing she had done something to anger her adopted sibling. "I...I tried to talk to you several times you know." she said quietly. "I stood outside your door each time, trying to find the words to say. Each time I left because I could feel the hatred and loathing you had directed towards me. I knew you didn't want to hear a word I had to say." She paused. The rage coming from Bakura made her avert her eyes from his. "I discovered that Mal had taken a host...and attempted to warn you. For some reason I couldn't get through to you, but….I was able to make contact with your host. We talked...and I….told him everything. About what we are...about you...and him."
Bakura's fury appeared to grow more by the second. "….you….had no right!"
She flinched at his tone, but continued. "I explained how when I discovered you weren't entirely gone and just trapped within the Ring I went to Osiris to find if there was a way to return what was stolen from you. I mentioned the only thing he could offer was to bond you to a new body. Your host...he...I think you can figure out the rest." Kat turned her head away from the raging Spirit.
Bakura's blood was boiling. "WHERE. IS. RYOU."
"With Osiris."
You made it through another chapter, yay!
Ryou will be showing up in the next chapter! Our favorite thief will get some closure! Like I mentioned in my reply to thor94 (which I recapped I believe at the beginning of chapter 2), I will not do our sweet angel dirty!