"I'll show you," said Yuugi. "Come on." He led Isis upstairs and into the room he shared, immediately turning down the volume of the radio, much to Malik's dismay. Isis walked in to see a small, tanned blond with no shirt currently engaged in a tug-of-war with Yuugi over the cookie jar. "That's more than enough sugar," the older boy was saying.
"Mine!" insisted the little one.
"Not now," said Yuugi firmly. "Now say hello to Isis."
Malik turned sulkily to her. "'lo," he muttered.
She walked slowly up to him and put a hand under his chin so that he looked up at her. Wiping away some of the chocolate, she stared hard at his face. "What's your name?" she asked softly, almost incredulously.
He pushed her hand away and wiped the rest of the chocolate on the back of his wrist. "Malik," he said almost defiantly, as if daring her to laugh at it.
She didn't, of course. Her eyes just went very wide as she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned back to get a good look at him. He grinned a little at her surprised expression. "I gots writing on my back, too. That's more interesting than my messy face."
With a soft gasp, Isis turned him about and stared at the scars. "How…?" she gasped out.
"We, uh, got him out of a giant egg. Kaiba still has the shell at his place, I think," said Yuugi, perfectly aware of how ridiculous he sounded.
With a soft sort of sigh, Isis passed out right on the floor.
She did come to a little while later, after which everything had to be explained all over again. When they finally made her sort of understand, she cried a bucketful and hugged Malik until he made exaggerated choking sounds and declared loudly that his face was turning blue.
Yuugi invited Isis to join them for dinner, and she accepted. She ate in silence, watching Malik shovel in massive amounts of food despite the many cookies he had had before. "He even eats like he used to," she said quietly as Malik drained his glass of water.
"You'll be taking him back with you?" asked Yuugi.
She finished her food and leaned back a little. "I suppose. I figure he'd want to go back to being with family. I'm really the only relative he has."
Malik looked up at her. "You're taking me away?" he asked quietly.
"Don't you want to go to Egypt? It's where you were born, where you grew up. It's your home."
Malik pulled a cookie from his pocket and began munching on it. "Yuugi said I was born at the beach two months ago."
"…"
"And I don't want to go away. I like it here. I like Domino."
Isis reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. "I can't believe you're really here. So many times I dreamed you came back, but never," she laughed, "never like this. And you're still so much the same, knowing exactly what you want."
"Of course," said Malik slowly, "I might want to come…if you buy me a motorcycle." He shot his sister a meaningful glance.
"Maybe when you're older," said Isis. "I'm sure you'll like Egypt, though."
"But I want to stay here. I want to stay with Uncle Yuugi!"
"I'm not even old enough to shave, and I get stuck in a custody battle over a kid," muttered Yuugi to himself. No one paid any attention.
"I understand, Malik," Isis said, the name sounding new on her tongue. "But you'll like Egypt."
"But I don't know you," Malik said in almost a whisper.
Isis looked stricken. "I'm sure you'll remember with a little time," she insisted, not quite accepting his loss of memory. "Tell you what, you come stay at the hotel with me tonight. I can get them to bring a cot for you, and we can talk or something. It would be good for us to get to know each other again."
Malik thought about that, sucking on his fork. "Okay. Just for tonight, though."
