Sorry for the screwed up formatting! I changing that now!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh! I wish I owned a tortoise.... That was
random.
Teehehe nasty cliffy there! Had you wondering, didn't I? Well, you'll find
out, just let me say the thanks to all my adoring fans who reviewed! All 10 of
them! Booya!
Yami Hugglepuff / Weeble: That's a seriously weird name. Mind you, you
are related to me, so fair enough.
Bakuraluva: Thankies! I appreciate the nice comments about the fighting,
there will be more in this chapter. *singing off key* I'm so mean, so mean,
so mean. I'm so mean with a cliffie! *stops singing* That was random....
Angel Reaper: Hehehe, I'm so mean.... This chapter is up as soon as I could
write it, sorry for the delay.
Yugiohluver: Great! I look forward to reading your story when it comes up,
please tell me! I'll be sure to review it!
Eyesrdiolies: Congrats on being my 50th reviewer! 50 reviews! Yay-yah!
SoulDreamer: I'm continuing!
Kira-Kura: Yeah! The last vampire rules! Sita's cool, if a little scary. She
kinda reminds me of Bakura. It's so fun to leave cliffys! This is why you and
me leave them... And you'll have to see if 'Kuras okay.
Kaelas: Oooo! Cherry! Here you go!
Charmeleon: I know, I know. Things should get better for them... eventually.
The Chaotic Ones: Me updated!
Yami Bakura = Bakura
Bakura = Ryou
Yami Marik = Malik
Marik = Marik
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
*****Maliks POV *****
Malik got up and stretched, being careful not to disturb his sleeping double.
Vampires just couldn't sleep for very long during the night, no matter how
tired they might be. And Malik knew Marik would probably be sleeping for
another three or four hours, so he had plenty of time to go out hunting.
Malik pulled a clean black shirt and pants out of the chest of draws, fished
the rod out from under the bed where it had rolled during their... activities
and did a final check to make sure nothing was wrong. He felt a bit hesitant
to leave, as something inside him was saying quite loudly that something was
about to happen that wasn't going to be for the general good of vampire
kind.
Malik had learned to listen to these bits of intuition, it had something to do
with the golden staff that he had taken when he, Bakura and Otogi decided
that the current leaders were all idiots. That was probably the only times in
history that a vampire had killed another and gotten away with it.
It was sort of a loophole, seeing as the law said that the three strongest
vampires had the right to lead, and the best way to prove you were the best
was to kill the person everyone else thought was the best.
Malik decided that whatever was going to happen wasn't going to happen
here, and opened the windows. If something was going to happen, he wanted
to be in the middle of it. Much more fun that way. Malik paused on the
windowsill for a second, feeling where the trouble was coming from, and
then jumped out, using his wings to hover and closing the window behind
him. Then he flapped his wings, hard, and pushed himself up into the air.
Once he had cleared the maze of buildings, there was a nice breeze that blew
him exactly where he wanted to go. It was times like these that Malik decided
even if there wasn't a god, there was probably something out there. Luck,
maybe.
He was pretty sure if there was a god, Malik would probably be dead by
now, given as he wasn't going to win the nicest-person-of-the-year award.
Okay, so he was already technically dead... or as Marik liked to put it:
'You're not dead, you're electroencephically challenged.' How did his abiou
know such big words when he was raised in the slums? Even Malik didn't
know that one, and he was nearly seventy years old... handy thing, eternal
youth. Shame about the whole trading for the soul thing.
Malik felt the sense of trouble getting deeper, it was almost like flying through
cobwebs. A tiny resistance, but still there. Suddenly he saw what was wrong,
Bakura was flying away, carrying a human in one arm, with another vampire
trailing after him. Malik sighed to himself. Stupid Bakura. You've already got
a slave, why are you pinching somebody else's? Probably for the fun of it.
Although, given as Bakura didn't seem to be able to use one arm, he
probably wasn't having much fun.
Malik followed after them at a safe distance, slightly off to the side. He was
having no problem keeping up, Bakura may be fast, but he was the fastest
vampire in all of America and, as he liked to think, the world. This was just a
warm-up flight. Things seemed to be going well for Bakura, he was keeping
ahead of the other vampire. Teasing him, really. Yep, definitely, Malik
thought as he watched Bakura drop the human and then catch him just before
the other vampire did.
Bakura must be pissed off about something, Malik reflected. Usually he
would have just let the vampire catch- Shit! Marik saw the knife flash through
the air and catch Bakura in the chest.
"Bakura!" Malik shouted and dived towards Bakuras plummeting body. Even
with his skills as a flyer, Malik only managed to slow Bakuras decent slightly,
and cushion his fall. Mainly by being beneath him.
Stupid fucking instincts! Malik cursed as he felt the grazes along his wings
and back begin to heal. I could have just been nice and safe at home, curled
up with Marik, but no, these stupid fucking instincts won't leave me alone.
Malik rolled out from underneath Bakura and kneeled next to his friend.
"Come on Bakura, now is no time to pass out!"
"It fucking hurts.." Bakura had his eyes closed, and had a graze over one arm
where Malik hadn't been able to catch him well enough.
"You know, you wouldn't expect a wooden knife through the chest to hurt
now, would you?" Malik said in a sarcastic voice.
"Shut up."
"I need to take the knife out, so you can heal. This is going to hurt. Try not
to kill me."
Bakura grunted, and Malik grasped the handle of the knife and pulled it out
quickly.
"Ahhhhh! Fuck!"
"That must've hurt. Bakura? Bakura!" Malik shook Bakura gently, then
harder. There was no response, but seeing as Bakura hadn't crumbled to
dust, he was still alive. Malik had no idea how that had happened, it was
possible that the knife had just missed his heart.
Malik caught a glimpse of silver heading towards them and opened his wings
just in time. He shuddered as the knife went through his wing and clattered
down onto the pavement just beside Bakuras head. Malik looked up and saw
the other vampire circling, holding the boy in one arm and pulling another
throwing knife out of a pouch on his belt.
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to kill him or something?!" Malik
screamed up at the figure.
"You get the general idea!" the figure yelled back, flicking another knife at
Bakura. Again Malik opened his wings, and again the knife went through
them. They weren't stopping the knife, but they were slowing it down and
directing them away from Bakura. This knife nicked Maliks arm and clattered
next to the previous knife. Malik winced as another one followed the last.
"Why are you sheltering him?!" The vampire hovered just above Malik and
Bakura.
"Because he's my goddamn friend!"
The vampire raised one eyebrow. "Vampires don't have friends."
"Then who are you holding?" The attacker looked down at the boy in his
arms, who seemed to have passed out.
"He's..."
Then the vampire took another look at Malik. "What?"
"You're another double!"
"Yes, I am. Stay away from mine, I really don't want to make an enemy out
of you. Now if you could please put the knives down?"
Yami reluctantly tucked the throwing knife back into the pouch. "What do
you want?"
"I'd like to know what's happening. I'm pretty sure Bakura wasn't very nice
to you, he's not usually like this."
"He is from what I've seen of him. Incidentally, I've been sent to kill you."
"Really? Want to try?"
"No. I know your reputation, and now I know you, I can't kill you."
"Why not?"
"I'm an assassin. That means I kill people I don't know. I can't kill people I
know unless they piss me off. And anyway, the guy I'm working for is very
shortly going to try and have me killed too. So really there's no reason why I
should work for him anymore."
"Fair enough." The vampire landed in front of Malik.
"My name's Yami, and this is Yugi. He's the reason why my boss is going
to kill me. Literally."
"Is he your son or something?"
"No! He's my copy. Like yours, and this guys."
"If you're not working for your boss anymore, why are you trying to kill
Bakura?"
"He tried to kill me first!"
"No, he probably wasn't trying to kill you. Just severely injury you."
"That's not exactly comforting."
"Sorry. My name's Malik. I hope for your sake that Bakura lives, or I'm
afraid our friendship hasn't got any long term prospects, on the account of
you will be dead."
"I'll hope that he lives then. He probably will, you vampires seem to be able
to heal quickly."
"What do you mean, 'you vampires'? You're kinda a vampire too, if you
hadn't noticed."
"Sorry. Keep forgetting."
"Fair enough. Who made you?"
"Him." Yami nudged Bakura with the toe of his boot.
"Don't do that. I need to get him back to his house so he can heal properly.
If you promise not to kill him, I'll take you and Yugi there too."
"Can you fly? Your wing doesn't look too good."
"Oh yeah, wonder how that happened?" Malik said sarcastically. Even if
Yami seemed to be alright, he still didn't trust him any further than he could
drop-kick him. "I need to wait a while, It'll heal. And I need to go get Marik
as well."
"Who's Marik?"
"My boyfriend."
"Oh."
"And when we get to Bakuras castle, and he's better, I'd really appreciate
some answers, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I would have told your friend here if he'd just asked nicely."
"Yeah, right."
"I haven't tried to kill you in the last minute, you note. I could have if I
wanted to."
"No you couldn't." Said Marik automatically, he inspected his wings. The
cuts had healed without a trace except for trails of blood where they had
been. "I'm about ready."
"Let's go already then. And shouldn't you pull the crossbow bolt out of his
wrist?"
Malik glanced down at Bakura. "Nah, he's lost enough blood as it is. You'd
better keep your boy away from him when he wakes up, he'll be hungry."
Malik picked Bakura up as if he was nothing. Having vampiric strength was
never a drawback. "You follow me, and please don't try anything."
"I told you, I won't."
"And I'm supposed to believe you why?"
Yami shrugged and followed Malik up into the sky.
***** Ryous POV ****
Ryou walked through the maze of rooms that he had gone through earlier. He
got lost a few times, but seeing as he had gone in a fairly straight line, it was
easy to get back. Eventually he reached the corridor where the trapdoor and
stairs were waiting, and safety too. There was something that didn't feel right
about the castle.
At the base of the stairs, Ryou paused and turned around. The rooms door
that had all the metal sculptures in it was open. Ryou was sure he had closed
it, but it was possible that the wind had blown it open, or that Bakura had
opened it when he was looking for him. Ryou walked over to the door and
reached to close it, when something caught his eye.
In the corner of the room a bronze box sat on a pedestal. Something about
the box caught Ryous attention, and before he knew what he was doing, he
had walked over and picked the box up. He opened it. Inside, something
glinted, but Ryou couldn't see it properly. Feeling guilty, he closed the box
and put it in his pocket. He would look at it tomorrow, while Bakura was
asleep.
Right now the only light was from the three-quarter moon, and that wasn't
helping much. Ryou went back to the stairs and climbed up them, closing the
door behind him. Burman was still curled up on the bed, blissfully unaware
of anything happening around him. Ryou curled up on the bed, but the box
jabbed painfully into his thigh.
Ryou sighed, and took his pants off. He couldn't risk Bakura finding the
box, and it was too hot a night to sleep with clothes on anyway. Even with
the window open it was still warm outside. Summer had begun a few weeks
ago, and so far it was promising to be one of the hottest ever recorded.
Just as Ryou got himself comfortable on the bed, two shapes swooped in the
window.
"Fancy finding you here!" said Marik.
"Where else would I be?"
"I was being sarcastic, you idiot. Malik, could you please put me down now?
We need to put Bakura in a healing room. I've never heard of a vampire
surviving a stake through the heart before."
"What?!" Ryou jumped out of bed and rushed over, only to back away again
when he saw Yami. "That guy tried to kill Bakura!"
"We know. How'd you guess?"
"I didn't guess, I was there!"
"Ummm, no, you weren't. I was just there."
"You mean he tried to kill him again?!"
"Again?!" Malik turned towards Yami. "You forgot to mention this little
detail."
Yami shrugged. "I'm not going to try again." Malik glared at him, then turned
away and kicked open the trapdoor. Still carrying Bakura, he walked down
the steps and followed a different passageway that Ryou hadn't noticed
before. Ryou found himself walking after Malik down a spiral stairway that
seemed to lead on forever. There was a large hole down the center of the
stairway. Ryou took one look and backed up against the solid, reassuring
stone wall behind him. Marik looked at him quizzically and then shrugged,
resuming their walk downwards.
"Where am I?" Ryou heard a new voice say. The boy in Yamis arms had
woken up and was looking fuzzily around.
"Don't shriek or anything, but you're in the guy that was trying to kill us'
house." Said Yami.
"What?!"
"I said don't do that. He's not going to kill us, and I'm not going to kill him.
At least, I think so."
"That's not reassuring!"
"Sorry. How are you feeling?"
"Alright. What happened?"
"Long story."
"Oh. Where are we going?"
"I have no idea."
"We're going to a healing place, it's basically a chamber very far
underground where there's nothing that can disturb the healing process.
Bakura's pretty badly hurt."
"How badly?" Ryou said. Despite himself, he found he was worried about
Bakura.
"We'll have to wait and see. I just hope he lives, for those twos sake." Marik
nodded towards Yami and Yugi, who was now walking by himself. "Malik
isn't nice when he's angry."
"I figured."
They walked in silence for a while again until the came to a large stone door.
It took both Malik and Yami pushing on it to get it to open wide enough for
them to get inside the room. Somewhere in the vast darkness around him,
Ryou could hear rushing water, and when Maliks rod (A/N the millennium
rod! I always mean that, 'k?) began to glow, Ryou could see it reflecting off
puddles of water on the floor.
As they walked further into the chamber, which was so big that Ryou
couldn't see the walls, the puddles joined together, seemingly springing out
of the paving stones, until the made small streams and eventually, a huge lake.
Out in the water there was a number of platforms, on one of which Malik laid
Bakura.
"Now we just have to leave him to himself for a while. I'll leave the door
open, so he can get out, and we'll see how he is tomorrow night. I think he'll
be alright, he's too much of a stubborn bastard to die."
"I hope so." Ryou said, and they walked towards the faint grey outline of the
door. Ryou sighed once they were outside.
"What's wrong Ryou?" Marik asked.
"I'm just not looking forward to climbing up all those stairs again."
Marik smiled. "Now that's where the vampires come in. Malik, could you
carry me up first, and then Ryou? Yami, you'll have to fly your copy up."
"Whatever." Said Yami, and Malik replied by clasping his hands around
Mariks waist. Malik leapt up, and with his wings making flapping sounds that
echoed in the long tower, carried Marik up the hole in the middle of the
stairway.
There was only enough room for one person to go up at a time, so Ryou was
left with Yami and Yugi. Yami looked Ryou over twice.
"You know, it's strange how he can have a person that looked almost exactly
like him, and yet you're so different."
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Is he different to what I've seen of him?"
"Uh-" Ryou was spared having to answer by Malik arriving, dropping
straight down and opening his wings with a crack as they caught the air and
slowed him down as he landed.
"Elevator service!" Ryou heard Marik call down. Malik grimaced and picked
Ryou up.
"Going up!"
Ryou couldn't help but giggle at Mariks comments, and that may have been
the reason why Malik didn't give him any warning. With a jump that made
Ryous head snap forward, Malik flew up the hole. It seemed far too narrow
to Ryou, as the wall rushed past inches away from his face. It seemed to
Ryou like a few minutes, but very shortly Malik deposited a pale Ryou at the
top of the stairs.
"You can breath now." Marik remarked. Ryou realized he'd been holding his
breath, and let it out in a whoosh.
"Didn't you enjoy the ride?" Asked Malik with a smirk on his face. Ryou
heard Yami begin to fly up the stairway.
"Please choose Malik airways next time for your comfort and convenience!"
said Marik, grinning like an idiot. Malik scowled at his double, which only
made Marik burst out laughing.
Yami landed next to them, holding Yugi.
"What now?" He asked.
"I'm tired." Said Yugi, proving his point with a yawn.
"I think we should all sleep in the same room, so there's someone to restrain
Bakura when he wakes up." Said Marik, still grinning.
"What's gotten into him?" Yami asked.
"He's like this most of the time after he's had a coffee to wake up. But he has got a point. There's a hall fairly nearby where we can sleep."
"Sounds good to me. Let's go." Said Yami, and Malik led the way along the
winding passageways of the castle until they reached a hall about 10 by 10
meters. There were no windows, and the floor was carpeted with soft red
carpet. Malik disappeared into one of the rooms off the side and appeared,
dragging two mattresses with a pile of sheets and pillows on them.
He put them in front of Marik and walked away, pushing Marik as he did so
Marik fell onto the pile of cushions. Marik just lay there giggling, until Malik
came back with another mattress and hit him over the head with a pillow.
"Will you get down off your caffeine high and help get the beds ready?"
Malik said, holding the pillow.
"Pillow fight! Yah!" Marik grabbed a pillow and hit a surprised Ryou over
the head.
"Riiiight..." Said Yugi.
Yami sighed. "I'm stay with a albino person, a person that looks like my
identical twin, a vampire and a sugar-high slave. What did I do wrong?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loooooooooooooong chapter! That's 'cause Fanfiction.net was being
naughty and wasn't working. 9 pages! Usually I stop at six. And yeah, I'm
making Marik a little random... but it's all good! He'll get more serious later,
if you want me to make him that way.
I got two hours sleep last night... fricken party... why do I go to them? Oh
yeah, they're fun... me smart today.
The next chapter might be a little long it coming, because I'm trying to write a
one-shot Bakura/Ryou fic. But this fic is still my top priority.
I really am sorry about the screwed formatting, my computer's gone all weird....
Remember: No reviews, no chapter!
Review box is here! \/
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh! I wish I owned a tortoise.... That was
random.
Teehehe nasty cliffy there! Had you wondering, didn't I? Well, you'll find
out, just let me say the thanks to all my adoring fans who reviewed! All 10 of
them! Booya!
Yami Hugglepuff / Weeble: That's a seriously weird name. Mind you, you
are related to me, so fair enough.
Bakuraluva: Thankies! I appreciate the nice comments about the fighting,
there will be more in this chapter. *singing off key* I'm so mean, so mean,
so mean. I'm so mean with a cliffie! *stops singing* That was random....
Angel Reaper: Hehehe, I'm so mean.... This chapter is up as soon as I could
write it, sorry for the delay.
Yugiohluver: Great! I look forward to reading your story when it comes up,
please tell me! I'll be sure to review it!
Eyesrdiolies: Congrats on being my 50th reviewer! 50 reviews! Yay-yah!
SoulDreamer: I'm continuing!
Kira-Kura: Yeah! The last vampire rules! Sita's cool, if a little scary. She
kinda reminds me of Bakura. It's so fun to leave cliffys! This is why you and
me leave them... And you'll have to see if 'Kuras okay.
Kaelas: Oooo! Cherry! Here you go!
Charmeleon: I know, I know. Things should get better for them... eventually.
The Chaotic Ones: Me updated!
Yami Bakura = Bakura
Bakura = Ryou
Yami Marik = Malik
Marik = Marik
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------
*****Maliks POV *****
Malik got up and stretched, being careful not to disturb his sleeping double.
Vampires just couldn't sleep for very long during the night, no matter how
tired they might be. And Malik knew Marik would probably be sleeping for
another three or four hours, so he had plenty of time to go out hunting.
Malik pulled a clean black shirt and pants out of the chest of draws, fished
the rod out from under the bed where it had rolled during their... activities
and did a final check to make sure nothing was wrong. He felt a bit hesitant
to leave, as something inside him was saying quite loudly that something was
about to happen that wasn't going to be for the general good of vampire
kind.
Malik had learned to listen to these bits of intuition, it had something to do
with the golden staff that he had taken when he, Bakura and Otogi decided
that the current leaders were all idiots. That was probably the only times in
history that a vampire had killed another and gotten away with it.
It was sort of a loophole, seeing as the law said that the three strongest
vampires had the right to lead, and the best way to prove you were the best
was to kill the person everyone else thought was the best.
Malik decided that whatever was going to happen wasn't going to happen
here, and opened the windows. If something was going to happen, he wanted
to be in the middle of it. Much more fun that way. Malik paused on the
windowsill for a second, feeling where the trouble was coming from, and
then jumped out, using his wings to hover and closing the window behind
him. Then he flapped his wings, hard, and pushed himself up into the air.
Once he had cleared the maze of buildings, there was a nice breeze that blew
him exactly where he wanted to go. It was times like these that Malik decided
even if there wasn't a god, there was probably something out there. Luck,
maybe.
He was pretty sure if there was a god, Malik would probably be dead by
now, given as he wasn't going to win the nicest-person-of-the-year award.
Okay, so he was already technically dead... or as Marik liked to put it:
'You're not dead, you're electroencephically challenged.' How did his abiou
know such big words when he was raised in the slums? Even Malik didn't
know that one, and he was nearly seventy years old... handy thing, eternal
youth. Shame about the whole trading for the soul thing.
Malik felt the sense of trouble getting deeper, it was almost like flying through
cobwebs. A tiny resistance, but still there. Suddenly he saw what was wrong,
Bakura was flying away, carrying a human in one arm, with another vampire
trailing after him. Malik sighed to himself. Stupid Bakura. You've already got
a slave, why are you pinching somebody else's? Probably for the fun of it.
Although, given as Bakura didn't seem to be able to use one arm, he
probably wasn't having much fun.
Malik followed after them at a safe distance, slightly off to the side. He was
having no problem keeping up, Bakura may be fast, but he was the fastest
vampire in all of America and, as he liked to think, the world. This was just a
warm-up flight. Things seemed to be going well for Bakura, he was keeping
ahead of the other vampire. Teasing him, really. Yep, definitely, Malik
thought as he watched Bakura drop the human and then catch him just before
the other vampire did.
Bakura must be pissed off about something, Malik reflected. Usually he
would have just let the vampire catch- Shit! Marik saw the knife flash through
the air and catch Bakura in the chest.
"Bakura!" Malik shouted and dived towards Bakuras plummeting body. Even
with his skills as a flyer, Malik only managed to slow Bakuras decent slightly,
and cushion his fall. Mainly by being beneath him.
Stupid fucking instincts! Malik cursed as he felt the grazes along his wings
and back begin to heal. I could have just been nice and safe at home, curled
up with Marik, but no, these stupid fucking instincts won't leave me alone.
Malik rolled out from underneath Bakura and kneeled next to his friend.
"Come on Bakura, now is no time to pass out!"
"It fucking hurts.." Bakura had his eyes closed, and had a graze over one arm
where Malik hadn't been able to catch him well enough.
"You know, you wouldn't expect a wooden knife through the chest to hurt
now, would you?" Malik said in a sarcastic voice.
"Shut up."
"I need to take the knife out, so you can heal. This is going to hurt. Try not
to kill me."
Bakura grunted, and Malik grasped the handle of the knife and pulled it out
quickly.
"Ahhhhh! Fuck!"
"That must've hurt. Bakura? Bakura!" Malik shook Bakura gently, then
harder. There was no response, but seeing as Bakura hadn't crumbled to
dust, he was still alive. Malik had no idea how that had happened, it was
possible that the knife had just missed his heart.
Malik caught a glimpse of silver heading towards them and opened his wings
just in time. He shuddered as the knife went through his wing and clattered
down onto the pavement just beside Bakuras head. Malik looked up and saw
the other vampire circling, holding the boy in one arm and pulling another
throwing knife out of a pouch on his belt.
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to kill him or something?!" Malik
screamed up at the figure.
"You get the general idea!" the figure yelled back, flicking another knife at
Bakura. Again Malik opened his wings, and again the knife went through
them. They weren't stopping the knife, but they were slowing it down and
directing them away from Bakura. This knife nicked Maliks arm and clattered
next to the previous knife. Malik winced as another one followed the last.
"Why are you sheltering him?!" The vampire hovered just above Malik and
Bakura.
"Because he's my goddamn friend!"
The vampire raised one eyebrow. "Vampires don't have friends."
"Then who are you holding?" The attacker looked down at the boy in his
arms, who seemed to have passed out.
"He's..."
Then the vampire took another look at Malik. "What?"
"You're another double!"
"Yes, I am. Stay away from mine, I really don't want to make an enemy out
of you. Now if you could please put the knives down?"
Yami reluctantly tucked the throwing knife back into the pouch. "What do
you want?"
"I'd like to know what's happening. I'm pretty sure Bakura wasn't very nice
to you, he's not usually like this."
"He is from what I've seen of him. Incidentally, I've been sent to kill you."
"Really? Want to try?"
"No. I know your reputation, and now I know you, I can't kill you."
"Why not?"
"I'm an assassin. That means I kill people I don't know. I can't kill people I
know unless they piss me off. And anyway, the guy I'm working for is very
shortly going to try and have me killed too. So really there's no reason why I
should work for him anymore."
"Fair enough." The vampire landed in front of Malik.
"My name's Yami, and this is Yugi. He's the reason why my boss is going
to kill me. Literally."
"Is he your son or something?"
"No! He's my copy. Like yours, and this guys."
"If you're not working for your boss anymore, why are you trying to kill
Bakura?"
"He tried to kill me first!"
"No, he probably wasn't trying to kill you. Just severely injury you."
"That's not exactly comforting."
"Sorry. My name's Malik. I hope for your sake that Bakura lives, or I'm
afraid our friendship hasn't got any long term prospects, on the account of
you will be dead."
"I'll hope that he lives then. He probably will, you vampires seem to be able
to heal quickly."
"What do you mean, 'you vampires'? You're kinda a vampire too, if you
hadn't noticed."
"Sorry. Keep forgetting."
"Fair enough. Who made you?"
"Him." Yami nudged Bakura with the toe of his boot.
"Don't do that. I need to get him back to his house so he can heal properly.
If you promise not to kill him, I'll take you and Yugi there too."
"Can you fly? Your wing doesn't look too good."
"Oh yeah, wonder how that happened?" Malik said sarcastically. Even if
Yami seemed to be alright, he still didn't trust him any further than he could
drop-kick him. "I need to wait a while, It'll heal. And I need to go get Marik
as well."
"Who's Marik?"
"My boyfriend."
"Oh."
"And when we get to Bakuras castle, and he's better, I'd really appreciate
some answers, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I would have told your friend here if he'd just asked nicely."
"Yeah, right."
"I haven't tried to kill you in the last minute, you note. I could have if I
wanted to."
"No you couldn't." Said Marik automatically, he inspected his wings. The
cuts had healed without a trace except for trails of blood where they had
been. "I'm about ready."
"Let's go already then. And shouldn't you pull the crossbow bolt out of his
wrist?"
Malik glanced down at Bakura. "Nah, he's lost enough blood as it is. You'd
better keep your boy away from him when he wakes up, he'll be hungry."
Malik picked Bakura up as if he was nothing. Having vampiric strength was
never a drawback. "You follow me, and please don't try anything."
"I told you, I won't."
"And I'm supposed to believe you why?"
Yami shrugged and followed Malik up into the sky.
***** Ryous POV ****
Ryou walked through the maze of rooms that he had gone through earlier. He
got lost a few times, but seeing as he had gone in a fairly straight line, it was
easy to get back. Eventually he reached the corridor where the trapdoor and
stairs were waiting, and safety too. There was something that didn't feel right
about the castle.
At the base of the stairs, Ryou paused and turned around. The rooms door
that had all the metal sculptures in it was open. Ryou was sure he had closed
it, but it was possible that the wind had blown it open, or that Bakura had
opened it when he was looking for him. Ryou walked over to the door and
reached to close it, when something caught his eye.
In the corner of the room a bronze box sat on a pedestal. Something about
the box caught Ryous attention, and before he knew what he was doing, he
had walked over and picked the box up. He opened it. Inside, something
glinted, but Ryou couldn't see it properly. Feeling guilty, he closed the box
and put it in his pocket. He would look at it tomorrow, while Bakura was
asleep.
Right now the only light was from the three-quarter moon, and that wasn't
helping much. Ryou went back to the stairs and climbed up them, closing the
door behind him. Burman was still curled up on the bed, blissfully unaware
of anything happening around him. Ryou curled up on the bed, but the box
jabbed painfully into his thigh.
Ryou sighed, and took his pants off. He couldn't risk Bakura finding the
box, and it was too hot a night to sleep with clothes on anyway. Even with
the window open it was still warm outside. Summer had begun a few weeks
ago, and so far it was promising to be one of the hottest ever recorded.
Just as Ryou got himself comfortable on the bed, two shapes swooped in the
window.
"Fancy finding you here!" said Marik.
"Where else would I be?"
"I was being sarcastic, you idiot. Malik, could you please put me down now?
We need to put Bakura in a healing room. I've never heard of a vampire
surviving a stake through the heart before."
"What?!" Ryou jumped out of bed and rushed over, only to back away again
when he saw Yami. "That guy tried to kill Bakura!"
"We know. How'd you guess?"
"I didn't guess, I was there!"
"Ummm, no, you weren't. I was just there."
"You mean he tried to kill him again?!"
"Again?!" Malik turned towards Yami. "You forgot to mention this little
detail."
Yami shrugged. "I'm not going to try again." Malik glared at him, then turned
away and kicked open the trapdoor. Still carrying Bakura, he walked down
the steps and followed a different passageway that Ryou hadn't noticed
before. Ryou found himself walking after Malik down a spiral stairway that
seemed to lead on forever. There was a large hole down the center of the
stairway. Ryou took one look and backed up against the solid, reassuring
stone wall behind him. Marik looked at him quizzically and then shrugged,
resuming their walk downwards.
"Where am I?" Ryou heard a new voice say. The boy in Yamis arms had
woken up and was looking fuzzily around.
"Don't shriek or anything, but you're in the guy that was trying to kill us'
house." Said Yami.
"What?!"
"I said don't do that. He's not going to kill us, and I'm not going to kill him.
At least, I think so."
"That's not reassuring!"
"Sorry. How are you feeling?"
"Alright. What happened?"
"Long story."
"Oh. Where are we going?"
"I have no idea."
"We're going to a healing place, it's basically a chamber very far
underground where there's nothing that can disturb the healing process.
Bakura's pretty badly hurt."
"How badly?" Ryou said. Despite himself, he found he was worried about
Bakura.
"We'll have to wait and see. I just hope he lives, for those twos sake." Marik
nodded towards Yami and Yugi, who was now walking by himself. "Malik
isn't nice when he's angry."
"I figured."
They walked in silence for a while again until the came to a large stone door.
It took both Malik and Yami pushing on it to get it to open wide enough for
them to get inside the room. Somewhere in the vast darkness around him,
Ryou could hear rushing water, and when Maliks rod (A/N the millennium
rod! I always mean that, 'k?) began to glow, Ryou could see it reflecting off
puddles of water on the floor.
As they walked further into the chamber, which was so big that Ryou
couldn't see the walls, the puddles joined together, seemingly springing out
of the paving stones, until the made small streams and eventually, a huge lake.
Out in the water there was a number of platforms, on one of which Malik laid
Bakura.
"Now we just have to leave him to himself for a while. I'll leave the door
open, so he can get out, and we'll see how he is tomorrow night. I think he'll
be alright, he's too much of a stubborn bastard to die."
"I hope so." Ryou said, and they walked towards the faint grey outline of the
door. Ryou sighed once they were outside.
"What's wrong Ryou?" Marik asked.
"I'm just not looking forward to climbing up all those stairs again."
Marik smiled. "Now that's where the vampires come in. Malik, could you
carry me up first, and then Ryou? Yami, you'll have to fly your copy up."
"Whatever." Said Yami, and Malik replied by clasping his hands around
Mariks waist. Malik leapt up, and with his wings making flapping sounds that
echoed in the long tower, carried Marik up the hole in the middle of the
stairway.
There was only enough room for one person to go up at a time, so Ryou was
left with Yami and Yugi. Yami looked Ryou over twice.
"You know, it's strange how he can have a person that looked almost exactly
like him, and yet you're so different."
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Is he different to what I've seen of him?"
"Uh-" Ryou was spared having to answer by Malik arriving, dropping
straight down and opening his wings with a crack as they caught the air and
slowed him down as he landed.
"Elevator service!" Ryou heard Marik call down. Malik grimaced and picked
Ryou up.
"Going up!"
Ryou couldn't help but giggle at Mariks comments, and that may have been
the reason why Malik didn't give him any warning. With a jump that made
Ryous head snap forward, Malik flew up the hole. It seemed far too narrow
to Ryou, as the wall rushed past inches away from his face. It seemed to
Ryou like a few minutes, but very shortly Malik deposited a pale Ryou at the
top of the stairs.
"You can breath now." Marik remarked. Ryou realized he'd been holding his
breath, and let it out in a whoosh.
"Didn't you enjoy the ride?" Asked Malik with a smirk on his face. Ryou
heard Yami begin to fly up the stairway.
"Please choose Malik airways next time for your comfort and convenience!"
said Marik, grinning like an idiot. Malik scowled at his double, which only
made Marik burst out laughing.
Yami landed next to them, holding Yugi.
"What now?" He asked.
"I'm tired." Said Yugi, proving his point with a yawn.
"I think we should all sleep in the same room, so there's someone to restrain
Bakura when he wakes up." Said Marik, still grinning.
"What's gotten into him?" Yami asked.
"He's like this most of the time after he's had a coffee to wake up. But he has got a point. There's a hall fairly nearby where we can sleep."
"Sounds good to me. Let's go." Said Yami, and Malik led the way along the
winding passageways of the castle until they reached a hall about 10 by 10
meters. There were no windows, and the floor was carpeted with soft red
carpet. Malik disappeared into one of the rooms off the side and appeared,
dragging two mattresses with a pile of sheets and pillows on them.
He put them in front of Marik and walked away, pushing Marik as he did so
Marik fell onto the pile of cushions. Marik just lay there giggling, until Malik
came back with another mattress and hit him over the head with a pillow.
"Will you get down off your caffeine high and help get the beds ready?"
Malik said, holding the pillow.
"Pillow fight! Yah!" Marik grabbed a pillow and hit a surprised Ryou over
the head.
"Riiiight..." Said Yugi.
Yami sighed. "I'm stay with a albino person, a person that looks like my
identical twin, a vampire and a sugar-high slave. What did I do wrong?"
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Loooooooooooooong chapter! That's 'cause Fanfiction.net was being
naughty and wasn't working. 9 pages! Usually I stop at six. And yeah, I'm
making Marik a little random... but it's all good! He'll get more serious later,
if you want me to make him that way.
I got two hours sleep last night... fricken party... why do I go to them? Oh
yeah, they're fun... me smart today.
The next chapter might be a little long it coming, because I'm trying to write a
one-shot Bakura/Ryou fic. But this fic is still my top priority.
I really am sorry about the screwed formatting, my computer's gone all weird....
Remember: No reviews, no chapter!
Review box is here! \/