Not the Same
**
"In here, Joey…" Marik opened the door to his room, leading his little mind slave in. Joey hadn't so much as twitched without permission since Marik had used the Millennium Rod on him. But then, why would he? He was a perfect, obedient mind slave.
And Marik hated him that way. Quiet, obedient; it just didn't suit Joey properly. Marik wasn't sure, but he thought he might have preferred having Joey mad and yelling at him. At least he was himself that way.
Marik closed the door, sitting down on the bed and watching Joey. Conceivably, if Marik told Joey not to move, Joey would remain in the same position for hours, days even, until he passed out from dehydration or something. Anything Marik wanted from Joey, all he had to do was say so.
And normally he had no problem with taking advantage of people like that. But somehow, the thought of doing that to Joey made him feel a little queasy.
"I didn't want to do this," Marik finally said. "If you'd just listened. If you'd…" He shook his head. "Hell, who am I kidding? This is all my fault, isn't it? My fault…" He gestured for Joey to come over, and Joey obediently did. "I dunno if you can hear me in there. I mean, really hear me. But if you can, I'm sorry."
But not sorry enough to release Joey. Not yet. He didn't want to lose him. Somehow… there had to be a way to make this better. He just hadn't thought of it yet.
Marik had never wondered before if his mind slaves' still had a part of their mind that was aware. Did they know what he was doing to them? Marik didn't like that idea… that deep in his mind, Joey was aware. Aware and screaming.
**
"How could you do this?!" Ruby's hands closed around Obelisk's neck, shaking the mini-god monster like a rag doll. "How could you let him use the Millennium Rod on Joey like that?!"
Obelisk choked and clawed at her hands. "It's not… like I had… a choice!"
Ruby dropped Obelisk on the ground, folding her arms and glaring at him menacing. Though she was a weaker creature than Obelisk, he still found himself cowering before her fury. "You blocked the powers of the Millennium Item before."
"Yeah, but I knew they were coming!" Obelisk rubbed at his throat; it was probably going to bruise. "It took all my strength to block the power before; and then I had advanced warning. I didn't know he was going to do this! I couldn't block the Rod when the power was already in full swing!"
Ruby paced the length of the chamber. She was so pissed, she was considering changing into her dragon form and frying someone. Preferably Marik. But that wasn't going to help Joey.
In fact, there didn't appear to be anything she could do to help Joey. Not in his current mind-enslaved state. She could only hope Joey's friends raised enough of a stink to get Marik to let Joey go.
"So…" Obelisk sounded like he was really tentative to talk to her. "…what do we do now?"
Ruby sighed in frustration, folding her arms. "We wait."
**
Yugi hung up the phone. "Serenity says he hasn't been home yet."
Seto shrugged and turned the page of the newspaper, not really giving a damn. Yugi clung to Seto's arm.
"It's getting late, Seto…" Yugi said. "Aren't you even a bit worried about Joey?"
"No," Seto said calmly, not daring to look at his little boyfriend. He knew Yugi's pleading eyes would be his undoing and he'd agree to whatever it was Yugi wanted.
"Something bad might have happened to him!" Yugi continued. "I want to go look for him."
"Fine," Kaiba said. "Have a nice time."
"Can I borrow the car?"
Kaiba sighed, setting down the paper, staring up at the ceiling so as not to look at Yugi's begging face. "You can't even see over the dashboard."
"I'll take the other one then," Yugi said.
"It's out of gas."
"The limo?"
"In the repair shop for the week."
"The motorcycle?"
"The helmet doesn't fit you."
"The van?"
"You couldn't reach the gas pedal, remember?"
Yugi gave a frustrated sigh, tugging on Seto's arm. "Pleeeeaaaasseee?"
Kaiba closed his eyes, then gave in and looked down at Yugi. Having bright sparkling violet eyes that pleading and innocent should be a crime. Seto knew he'd have no hope of refusing now. "Come on then; I'll drive you."
"Yay!"
