How Many Blondes Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?
**
"-creepy, evil, freakish little weasel!" Joey yelled, hitting Marik to punctuate each word. "What the heck were you thinking, mind-enslaving me?! Did you think it was funny or something?!"
"Ow ow ow!" Marik yelped, scrambling to get away. It didn't work so well, considered he was pretty well pinned down. "No! I didn't think it was funny, I just didn't want you to go away!"
"Yeah, well when I'm through you'll hope to never see me again!" Joey yelled at him. "It's not fun being mind-enslaved! It's not just degrading, it's boring!" He grabbed the Millennium Rod in Marik's hands, trying to pull it away from him. "Give me that! After all the trouble I went through to get it back for you, then you go and use the damned thing against me! One day I hope you find out what it's like-"
Joey pulled the Millennium Rod from Marik's grip. The instant the Millennium Item left Marik's hand, the eye symbol began to glow brightly golden. Joey cringed and looked away, the Rod's light too bright to look at. It lasted only a moment, and Joey put the Millennium Item down, frowning at the unexpected reaction.
It was then that he noticed Marik wasn't struggling to get away anymore. Joey blinked, and looked down at the boy he had pinned.
Marik was staring blankly up at him, not a single spark of recognition in his eyes. Mind-enslaved, most definitely.
"Crap!" Joey yelped, jumping up. Marik didn't so much as twitch. Joey grabbed the Millennium Rod and shook it. "Come on, come on… Isn't there some sort of on/off switch on this thing? A reverse gear? Emergency shut-down??" The Millennium Rod showed about as much response as Marik did. Meaning nothing.
"Okay, focus," Joey instructed himself, starting to pace across the room. "You just used Marik's own Millennium Rod to enslave his mind. You don't know how to turn it off. What to do, what to do…" He looked down at Marik, who was still lying on the floor, staring up with that blank-eyed gaze. "Aw, don't look at me that way! I didn't mean to!"
Well, if he couldn't get the Millennium Item to work and change Marik back, surely one of the spirits of the Millennium Items could. "Come on, Marik, we're gonna go get you fixed. And then I'll finish yelling at you."
**
Someone was pounding on the front door. Seto frowned, opening his eyes and peering blurrily at the clock. He hoped whoever was at the door this late at night was someone that wouldn't be missed. Because he was going to kill them.
Seto got dressed and went downstairs, still grumbling irritably. It didn't help when he found Joey Wheeler standing outside. Definitely someone that would be missed if he mysteriously vanished. Damn.
"Hey Kaiba, is Yugi here?" Joey asked in a rush.
"Puppy." Kaiba glared at him. "If I throw a stick, will you go away?"
"Kaiba!" Joey yelled. "Get Yugi! This is an emergency!"
"What kind of emergency?" Kaiba wasn't in too big a hurry to go back upstairs and wake Yugi.
"The kind where I accidentally used a Millennium Item to mind-enslave Marik!" Joey said. He moved to one side to show Marik standing behind him, blank-eyed and obedient. "I went to Yami's, but nobody was home!"
Seto yawned. "Yami and Bakura are out of town for the weekend. They'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Now, go away." He closed the door in Joey's face, locking it and going back upstairs.
Yugi was half-awake when Seto came back to the bedroom. "…who was it?" he asked with a yawn.
"Stray dog," Kaiba muttered, climbing back into bed and cuddling Yugi close. Yugi was too sleepy to figure out what Kaiba meant by that, and so they both went back to sleep.
**
Joey sighed and glanced back at his mind-slave. "Guess you're staying with me until tomorrow then. When Yami and Bakura get back, we'll get them to fix this."
Marik just stood there.
"God, you're creepy like this," Joey muttered. "Come on then."
Marik followed him back home, calm and obediently. Serenity was already asleep when they got to the Wheeler residence, so Joey had Marik follow him to his room. Wouldn't do to have Serenity wake up in the morning to find zombie-like Marik standing in their living room.
Joey changed into his pajamas, turning out the light and climbing into bed. In the dark, he could make out the figure of Marik standing by the door, unmoving. Not really something he wanted to wake up to, either.
"Come here then," Joey ordered, moving over to make space in the bed for Marik. "I dunno if you can sleep, but you can at least try to get comfortable."
Marik walked forward in the dark, climbing into bed beside Joey.
"I'll try not to kick ya out of bed in my sleep," Joey promised, cuddling close to Marik. Just like a big teddy bear, Marik was. Joey fell asleep smiling.
**
Author's note: Whew! Finally got this chapter up. Sorry for the wait, peoples! Only one more chapter left to go!
