A/N: Thank you SO much, Llyxius and Asuka02redeva! I know that the music I listen to while I write either brings up or drags down the quality of the particular piece. I'm much more satisfied with this chapter than the last, so thank you! (And hopefully you all enjoy it...even if you don't, you can still fall in love with Evanescence like me *grin*)



Bonded



"Yugi!" my tortured yell echoes in my head and the vibration seeks to tear my mind apart. I've been calling to him, both physically and through our bond, for I cannot guess how long. "Aibou! Please, answer me!"

A woman walks by and gives me a strange look. In this strange world she manages to walk about on the wall of a nearby chocolate store. She clutches her purse more tightly and hastens her 'escape'. As soon as she is gone, I hear laughter behind me. It is frigid and clear. The clarity is what alerts me to the fact that Malik has found me, yet again.

"Where is he?" I demand, feeling certain that Malik has had something to do with it. His feral smile is proof enough.

"Yugi?" He laughs again, pushing idly with his boot at the bloody body of one of the thugs. He frowns when it groans, and kicks it. Then again, and again, until it is silent and still. "He's not here."

"I know that!" I move toward him, intent on doing *something* to this maniac to relieve my frustration and fear.

"He was never here, you fool!" Malik locks gazes with me and stops me in my tracks. "They were only scrounging through the evening's trash for food."

He grins blissfully when he sees my reaction. "No, Yami...I think that Yugi is safe at the hospital with his boyfriend. He's worried for Ryou, not you. What thought should he give to you anyway, except when he hears about what you did?" His murky violet eyes watch me gleefully. "Do you think he'll accept you back, or will he shatter the Puzzle to seal away a creature as dangerous as you?"

"Was that what you were after all along then, Ishtal?" I feel my body quiver with fear and rage. Everything feels cold to me right now.

He makes a small, irritated noise. "Hardly. Not that you are much help. You can't even hold up an end of a bargain that you ought to enjoy."

A terrible thought comes into my mind. If my situation were reversed with Malik, I know where I would go...and who I would hurt, while my slave was beating helpless bystanders. "Where were you?"

He is only too happy to tell me. "I visited Yugi while he slept."

"What did you do to him?" I try to grab him, but he steps back and hold up his arms so that the only thing I get are his forearms. He looks disgusted at my touch.

"Nothing half as bad as what you are going to do to him."

*~*~*

Malik has returned my senses to normal, at least somewhat. I have trouble with stairs, but I no longer see things on the ceiling or in corners where they shouldn't be. As always, this little freedom is only for his pleasure. He forces me to watch TV program in which a young woman is reporting live from the spot where we left the two homeless men.

Flashing blue and red lights alternately wash out her face and illuminate the gruesome, glass-strewn scene behind her. In the grisly kaleidoscope, I catch glimpses of Yugi, and can vaguely hear him calling my name.

"...A terrible tragedy which the police are hesitant to peg as gang violence..."

"...Yami?"

Then her voice continues with her report in falsely saddened tones, "...Never before have we had any problems with violence against the homeless...."

Yugi stares in horror at the broken windows; at the stretcher two paramedics are carrying away. The body is covered from head to toe in a clean white death shroud.

Surely he knows that the body isn't me?

Malik smirks. "Oh, he knows. He also knows that you are the one who did all this."

"I didn't kill that boy!"

Malik shrugs. "I made his death quicker and less painful, but rest assured that he wouldn't have lived no matter what I did or did not do."

"But you...you tricked me." I slump over in my chair, clawing at my scalp in an effort to make this situation unreal. "I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't made me see Yugi."

He sneers at me, "And who are you going to tell that to, Pharaoh? Would the police believe you? Even if Yugi does, what is he supposed to do about it? This can't be simply forgotten. If he could, he would turn you in."



**...it is dark...searing pain, and a wall of frozen metal that stops me from returning to my home. The bright sky and warm sands are lost to me, and in its place is a choking, lightless wasteland where I am alone except for the demons which have ever plagued my mind...**



I sit up with a gasp, seeing blurry images of the room and Malik, who is sitting as cooly as ever.



**...No! This isn't right...I take it back...whatever I did or said, I didn't mean it... don't leave me in here...a thousand millennia, but please, not for eternity...I am supposed to be with my family...I can hear them crying...But now....I can hear my heart slowing...it hurts, Ra, it hurts...the blood is freezing on its course through my body, because there is no more strength to pump it...it sounds as if an entire ocean has been pushed into my head...I'm dying all over again...Alone...in the Puzzle...**



The memories continue to push out reality. I will not scream. I won't.



**...The pain is almost gone. I'm numb all over. ...no...there is a light...forming in thin, eggshell-thin cracks all over the distanceless walls around me, slowly expanding, tearing me apart with it. Everything I knew is leaving...my first child, held so proudly in my arms...his name has been forgotten; perhaps it slipped out into the light. My name...my name is...**



In my head, the light erupts and the painful image exhausts me. I wish I could go to my soul room. Malik won't allow it.



*~*~*

Night only deepens as I continue to worry. I take a ride to Yugi's house on the back of Malik's motorcycle, though I'm not sure I want to be near my hikari if Malik is so eager to let me be.

I feel icy resentment, growing more powerful by the second, at the 'appreciation' I can't seem to reason away of Malik's lean, well-toned body. His muscular frame is warm and strong in front of me, and as a final slap in the face, I find I enjoy having my arms around him. I keep my hands still through sheer willpower, one on his chest and the other across his stomach. I long to pull him even closer to me...

It's not easy, keeping control of myself, and I think he knows what thoughts are in my head at the moment. What I can't help but think of, when his silky blond hair gently tickles my face and brings with it the faint scent of almonds.

I jump off the instant the bike finishes squealing to a halt. That blasted Egyptian doesn't abandon my imagination until I am inside Yugi's room. Yes...it is Yugi I want, and no one else. Not even Malik.

I don't dare touch him; Yugi is so beautiful when he sleeps. "Aibou," I whisper. He whimpers. "Yugi...aibou." I brush my fingers over his cheek, and slowly his eyes open.

"Yami?" He stares at me, and for that small moment I can pretend that things are as I want them to be; that Yugi loves me as much as I want him to. Then his lip quivers and tears fall down his cheeks, erasing my touch from the world. I feel as if I've been kicked. *I* made him cry.

The light from the hallway fades, and I can tell just from the silhouette that Malik is standing behind me in the doorway.

I rush closer to Yugi. "What...what did he do to you, Yugi?"

He wrenches away from me when I try to hold him. "He woke Ryou in the hospital," Yugi chokes out. "And I know what you did, Yami!"

His eyes plead for me to deny it and I almost do. Then Malik laughs.

"Stupid child." He glares savagely at Yugi. "What did you expect? 'Yami' was cursed for a *reason*...and it wasn't to wait around 5,000 years for *you*. His powers are too great to be controlled by a weak hearted, simpering child. He got what he wanted out of you, and now it is time for the Pharaoh to move on. Deal with it."

I don't - can't - say anything and it hurts my aibou even more. Foreign words are torn from my throat. "Cry all you want, Yugi. Your pain is the only gratification I'll ever receive from you anyway. And I promise, there will be a lot *more* pain before I am satisfied."

He doesn't look at me. He stares at his lap and sobs. "Yami, I'm sorry."

I fight what Malik is unearthing in the darkest part of my heart. I fight and fight, but all it does is make my voice more strangled and hushed; more angry sounding.

"You should be." Once the words are out, he is too shocked and hurt to say or do anything, except sit there and stare at me with utter confusion.

Malik lightly drags a hand across my chest and presses me against him.

More words are spoken in my voice. "I want to be with Malik. Duel him so that I won't be dragged back *here* again."

Yugi nods quickly. I want to kill the people who are making him hurt this way. I want to torture them...I want to make him smile.

Malik whispers darkly in my ear, "Are we done here then?"

I look back at Yugi. Malik's closeness has fogged my mind with...I'd rather not think about it. I want to say something to my Light and the words elude me; so I can only nod, after a long, quiet minute. Malik leads the way to the bike.

I've left Yugi alone, confused, and frightened in the dark.