~Ishizu~
Again I awake, wondering what has happened to me. I do not remember falling asleep. Was I forcefully put into oblivion again?
I try to raise myself up, but I am so very weak. And something feels different. . . . Two somethings, actually. . . . My necklace is gone. . . . And . . . I can barely see!
"Missing something, my dear?"
I look up, my vision blurred. The voice is one I would recognize anywhere. "You have taken the Millennium Tauk!" I accuse.
"Oh yes," Rishid's birth father smirks. "I have it. And I can see into the future with it!"
"There is not any way you could!" I retort furiously.
"I beg to differ." He walks around me, but I cannot see him—only a vague outline! "Yes, I can use the Tauk, and other mystical items as well."
I narrow my eyes. "What have you done to my vision?!" I demand to know now, wondering if it is a mental trick he has learned.
"Oh? Feeling the effects already, are you?" He isn't surprised in the least. "It's a very nice drug, really. I think it will be putting you under again very soon. And isn't it quaint how it takes your senses away?"
"What do you mean?!" I gasp, unable to believe what is happening.
"Well, remember what I said about your brothers finding you starving? I didn't entirely mean physically hungry. Mentally you'll be quite a mess too. After all, I'm sure that slowly losing your senses will leave you starving for your sanity! Eventually you'll descend into such madness that you won't be able to live!" He grabs me and I pull away. "You can still feel, I see. But soon you won't be able to. I estimate that every time you awaken from this drug's slumber effects, another sense will be gone! Rishid and Marik will have to hasten if they want to save you. Once all five senses are useless, it will be next to impossible to restore them—even with the antidote!"
I clench my fists, feeling rage begin to take over. "You will not get away with this!"
"Oh, but I am." I see him touching a glint of gold, perhaps the Tauk, as he exits. "Sweet dreams."
My vision darkens entirely, but I know I cannot panic. That is what he wants. No, I will stay strong and pray for my brothers to be safe and for them to make the right decisions about what to do. Rishid cannot give in to his father's wishes just for me. I will suffer to the very death if I must; this evil creature must not win!
Slowly I sink down to lay on the slab, knowing that I cannot fight the oblivion any longer. I wonder what other sense I shall wake up without. Surely this man must be working with someone else. I cannot believe that he himself created this drug, not judging by what I already know about him.
~Marik~
I look up at my brother as we ride over the Egyptian sands in Kaiba's Jeep. One thing that has been bothering me is what will we do when we reach the final destination? This person obviously has no scruples. Rishid, of course, would never agree to his plot, but even if he did as just a bluff, we would have no way of knowing whether Ishizu would truly be released to us or not.
"Are you alright, Marik?" Rishid asks softly.
"Yes," I assure him. I have vowed to completely put my horrible experience behind me and to never speak of it again. I don't want to recall it—not now, not ever! I seem to be having success, too. I haven't had a ghastly remembrance since getting in the Jeep.
I can see that Rishid doesn't believe me when I say I'm fine. "Really, I am," I whisper. "Ishizu's whom we must worry about now."
Rishid lays his hand over mine. "I do worry for her. But I worry for you as well, dear brother. After what nearly happened to you . . ."
"Don't speak of it, Rishid!" I beg. "Please!! I don't want you to mention it again!!"
Rishid's eyes narrow, but he kindly agrees.
"Really, I'm alright. I just don't want to think about . . . what happened." I look out at the endless sands.
****
By the time we reach the well, darkness has fallen. Shadows are looming everywhere, increasing my discomfort, but I push it all aside. I can't allow my experience to come back into my mind!
I can't help remembering what Rishid said, though. ~You have been through something atrocious. No one with a heart would expect you to behave entirely normal immediately afterward.~
But it's been many hours now! I should be able to behave normally now . . . shouldn't I? Mokuba just thinks I'm being stupid and childish. I know he does, after the snide remark he made on the airplane. Of course he doesn't know what happened . . . but why doesn't he realize that I wouldn't be acting this way unless I'd just come through something traumatic?!
Rishid gets out of the Jeep and goes over to the well. From the look in his eyes, I can tell he's afraid Ishizu may be laying at the bottom. The thought, admittedly, hadn't occurred to me before, but it does now. I run after him, paling.
"Is she . . . ?!"
"She is not down there." Rishid straightens up from where he was leaning over the side. "Thank God."
I breathe a sigh of relief and look around, trying to determine if she could be hidden somewhere in the village. "It seems like tabs are being kept on us," I comment. "Surely he must know we're at the well now. Why doesn't he call?!"
Rishid narrows his eyes. "Perhaps we should look around." He has not said how he feels, to again be at the place where he was abandoned so many years before, but I know he must be thinking of it.
"I agree," Kaiba says, coming up behind us without warning. The sudden movement and voice causes me to leap a mile into the air, and Mokuba is decidedly not impressed.
"It's just us," he tells me matter-of-factly with a glare. I am certain Rishid would have scolded him, were he not already advancing forward into the deserted village.
"I know it's you!" I retort, trying to conceal my embarrassment and hurt.
"Coulda fooled me." Mokuba pushes past me, still in his Mood.
"Don't go off alone!" Kaiba yells after him.
"Oh no!" Mokuba calls back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I might be attacked by an old mummy out here!"
"Mokuba!" Kaiba's eyes narrow. "Stop acting this way!"
"There you go, ordering me around again!"
I shake my head, wanting nothing more than for them to not bicker and for us to find Ishizu.
Before any of us know what is happening, the horrible sound of a whistling wind sweeps through, bringing half the sands of Egypt with it.
"It's a sandstorm!" I yell, throwing my arms up over my face. "We have to get somewhere for safety until it passes!" Not getting an answer, I worry whether the others have heard me. The sand blocks out all vision, and the wind's incessant chatter makes it next to impossible to hear anything.
I back up a bit, worrying over where Rishid and the Kaibas are. I wind up backing right into an open doorway and falling through. The door then slams shut and I am plunged into darkness.
No . . . it's too dark. . . . I don't want to be in the dark. . . . Do I have my Rod? Can I use it to make it light? And where have the others gotten themselves to?! Are they safe??! With the intensity of the storm outside, I know I do not dare to open the door until it has passed. Opening it now would do no one any good, I'm afraid.
"Is someone here?"
I freeze at the voice. It is Mokuba's.
"Y-yes. . . . I am here," I reply shakily, finding the Rod and trying to activate its powers of illumination. Somehow I just can't concentrate, however, and as I pull myself up I realize I am facing something leaning against the nearest wall. I can just barely make out the form of what looks like a coffin . . .
The wind's intensity grows and the rickety shack we are in rocks dangerously—as does the casket. Before I can flee to the opposite side of the room, it has flown open and released the occupant, which then falls on top of me.
My mind goes blank. It's attacking me!!! I'm being overpowered by it again and I won't be able to get away this time. . . . I've dropped the Rod. . . . Where is it??! I have to get the Rod. . . . I have to. . . .
"LET GO OF ME!!!!! STOP!!!!!!!"
I do not consciously realize I am screaming bloody murder, but I am. I have fallen to the floor and am in the process of trying to shove the creature back, but it won't move. It's grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me down. . . . Its lips move closer to mine. . . . Its arms are tightly around me. . . . It unzips my shirt and strokes my chest. . . .
I can't take this!! I CAN'T!!!! I let loose with a blood-curdling scream that I am very aware of this time.
"MARIK!!!!"
Mokuba's angry voice suddenly cuts in. Why is he angry at me?! What have I done?! Can't he see what this horrible . . . THING is trying to do to me???!
"Marik, just cut it out, will you?!" He picks up the Rod, which is shining now after all. "Just see how stupid you look!! I'm six years younger than you and Seto thinks I'm a big baby, but I don't fall on the floor screaming my lungs out because some dusty old mummy fell on me!!"
I try to get my breathing back to normal. Mummy? It's . . . it's only a lifeless mummy? I've been reliving the past again. Rishid was right! I can't act normal yet! I . . . I'm just not mentally capable of it at this time!!
I shove the mummy back, the full force of Mokuba's words hitting me hard. I can't even speak. I can only gaze up at him, my eyes wide and full of hurt. How?! How can he treat me this way?? I'm suffering! Can't he see that?
"If you ask me," Mokuba continues, "you're the big baby!" He shoves the Rod at me and stomps over to the other side of the shack.
I just let the Rod clunk to the floor as I curl into a ball, crossing my arms and laying them over my knees. What kind of a person am I?! I'm struggling so hard to put this behind me, to just concentrate on saving my sister, but it keeps rearing up and slapping me in the face. I'm not mentally stable right now!! I'm hurting. I'm hurting so badly!!
Now the full force of what I went through is hitting me again. I nearly had my virtue stolen from me. It was far worse than anything I have ever gone through before—even the most horrible physical torture and pain. I can recover from physical pain. The wounds heal and I am able to get back what I have lost. But . . . if that abomination had succeeded in what it was trying to do . . . there would have been no way to reverse it. I could never get my chastity back if it had been taken from me.
Mokuba wouldn't understand. . . . He'd only look at me in disgust again, I'm sure. The only ones who really understand are Rishid and Ishizu. Rishid . . . I don't know where he is now. . . . And Ishizu's been abducted. . . . Somehow I have to force myself to get up and find them. I have to!!
But I can't.
I'm not physically capable of moving from this spot. I simply cannot make myself move. All I can do right now is sit here and silently cry.
Please forgive me, my siblings. . . . I'm not strong enough. I tried so hard to put the past behind me . . . to not think of it. . . . But it keeps coming back. I'm so terrified right now!!
So very terrified. . . .
~Rishid~
The sandstorm forces Kaiba and myself into a nearby building that may have once been a hotel. To my concern, Marik and Mokuba are not here. They must be in another dwelling. But where?
And how will Marik fare? I know he is not well. Over the last few hours he tried so very hard to erase all memories of his catastrophic experience . . . but it will not work. The more he tries to push it away, the more it will haunt him. I want to be with him now, so badly. . . .
What if he is with Mokuba and the boy doesn't treat him kindly?! I know Mokuba has been in a Mood since the limousine ride. And he even made that terrible comment on the airplane. He wouldn't understand what has happened to my poor brother. Marik would never tell him. If Marik suddenly has another spell of being emotionally distraught, I know Mokuba would not know what to think.
Kaiba looks as perturbed at the separation as I am. "I have to get back to Mokuba!" he growls, heading for the door.
"You cannot go out there in the sandstorm!" I warn, instantly coming to his side.
Kaiba opens the door for a split second and then slams it shut again, brushing the sand out of his hair in irritation. "We can't just stay here! There's no telling what trouble Mokuba might be in!" He looks around, as if hoping for a secret entrance that will lead us to the abode where our brothers (hopefully) are.
I narrow my eyes. "I know. I am . . . afraid he may say something cruel to my brother." Perhaps I will have to confide in Seto Kaiba. Maybe he will be able to get Mokuba under control if he has an understanding of what my brother endured.
Kaiba grunts. "Mokuba's not angry at him."
"You know as well as I do the way he gets lately," I retort, helping him look for that secret passage that I am praying exists. "And Marik . . . he has come through something horrifying. He is trying so hard to pretend that nothing is wrong, but of course he is so very disturbed by it all."
"What's that?" Kaiba asks, pre-occupied.
I struggle before answering. I know Marik did not want anyone to know. But I cannot stand for things to go on the way they are.
"He was overpowered by something that had inhuman strength," I tell him finally. "It . . . very nearly violated him."
Kaiba stops what he is doing and turns to look at me with an unreadable expression.
"Mokuba does not understand my brother's petrified behavior," I continue, suddenly noting that the wind seems to have stopped.
Kaiba has noticed as well. He turns to the door, throwing it open and looking around. "Well, come on," he says gruffly. "We have to find them!" With that he marches out ahead, his trenchcoat blowing out behind him.
I narrow my eyes and quickly follow after him, praying that they—especially Marik—are alright.
****
We look over the entire village without luck and then come to the last shack.
"They've gotta be in there," Kaiba says, hurrying to the door, which is flapping back and forth in the wind. The breeze has picked up again—just slightly—and I know it is possible that another storm is on its way.
"Marik?!" I call, following Kaiba inside.
At first glance there is no one there. Then I become aware of a lone figure rocking back and forth slowly in the corner. I know it is my brother.
"Marik!!!" I cry in alarm, kneeling down beside him. I can see the fallen coffin on the floor, as well as the mummy, and I know what must have happened.
The boy looks up at me, his eyes dull and listless.
"Where's Mokuba??!" Kaiba demands, doing a doubletake when he sees Marik's expression.
"Mokuba?" Marik gives him a vague look. "Mokuba . . . he . . . he . . . thinks I'm stupid. . . . He doesn't understand!! He doesn't understand, Rishid!!!" Tears fill his eyes. "I am crazy, Rishid!!! I am . . ."
I gather him into my arms, outraged that Mokuba couldn't show some compassion, even though he doesn't know what happened. I cannot understand that boy! He was so kind at first, when we were leaving the house . . . but then, just because of a remark or two of Kaiba's, he went into one of his nasty spells. "No, Marik, no!" I whisper firmly. "You must believe me when I tell you that you are NOT crazy or stupid. Your behavior is normal. You are a very brave soul. Never let anyone tell you otherwise!"
"I don't feel very brave," Marik replies sadly as he hugs me. "I feel so worthless!!"
I look into his eyes, alarmed at those words. "Never say that, Marik!! Do you hear me?!" Gently I grip his shoulders. "You are worth everything to me! You are my dear brother. Do you remember when you told me that you never wanted to hear me call myself a servant again? Well, I never want to hear you say you are worthless! It is NOT true, my brother!! IT IS NOT!!"
Marik stares at me and then simply embraces me wordlessly. I can tell he is crying.
I look up at Kaiba as if to say, You can see what he's going through! Kaiba nods in agreement and then narrows his eyes again.
"Mokuba must've wandered off. I wouldn't put it past him in his state."
Before I can respond, Kaiba's cell phone rings and he snatches it up. He listens for only a few seconds and then goes pale.
"What is it?!" I cry, afraid that something has happened to Ishizu.
Kaiba closes his eyes tightly. "They have Mokuba," he says in a quiet tone. "They have Mokuba as well as your sister."
Again I awake, wondering what has happened to me. I do not remember falling asleep. Was I forcefully put into oblivion again?
I try to raise myself up, but I am so very weak. And something feels different. . . . Two somethings, actually. . . . My necklace is gone. . . . And . . . I can barely see!
"Missing something, my dear?"
I look up, my vision blurred. The voice is one I would recognize anywhere. "You have taken the Millennium Tauk!" I accuse.
"Oh yes," Rishid's birth father smirks. "I have it. And I can see into the future with it!"
"There is not any way you could!" I retort furiously.
"I beg to differ." He walks around me, but I cannot see him—only a vague outline! "Yes, I can use the Tauk, and other mystical items as well."
I narrow my eyes. "What have you done to my vision?!" I demand to know now, wondering if it is a mental trick he has learned.
"Oh? Feeling the effects already, are you?" He isn't surprised in the least. "It's a very nice drug, really. I think it will be putting you under again very soon. And isn't it quaint how it takes your senses away?"
"What do you mean?!" I gasp, unable to believe what is happening.
"Well, remember what I said about your brothers finding you starving? I didn't entirely mean physically hungry. Mentally you'll be quite a mess too. After all, I'm sure that slowly losing your senses will leave you starving for your sanity! Eventually you'll descend into such madness that you won't be able to live!" He grabs me and I pull away. "You can still feel, I see. But soon you won't be able to. I estimate that every time you awaken from this drug's slumber effects, another sense will be gone! Rishid and Marik will have to hasten if they want to save you. Once all five senses are useless, it will be next to impossible to restore them—even with the antidote!"
I clench my fists, feeling rage begin to take over. "You will not get away with this!"
"Oh, but I am." I see him touching a glint of gold, perhaps the Tauk, as he exits. "Sweet dreams."
My vision darkens entirely, but I know I cannot panic. That is what he wants. No, I will stay strong and pray for my brothers to be safe and for them to make the right decisions about what to do. Rishid cannot give in to his father's wishes just for me. I will suffer to the very death if I must; this evil creature must not win!
Slowly I sink down to lay on the slab, knowing that I cannot fight the oblivion any longer. I wonder what other sense I shall wake up without. Surely this man must be working with someone else. I cannot believe that he himself created this drug, not judging by what I already know about him.
~Marik~
I look up at my brother as we ride over the Egyptian sands in Kaiba's Jeep. One thing that has been bothering me is what will we do when we reach the final destination? This person obviously has no scruples. Rishid, of course, would never agree to his plot, but even if he did as just a bluff, we would have no way of knowing whether Ishizu would truly be released to us or not.
"Are you alright, Marik?" Rishid asks softly.
"Yes," I assure him. I have vowed to completely put my horrible experience behind me and to never speak of it again. I don't want to recall it—not now, not ever! I seem to be having success, too. I haven't had a ghastly remembrance since getting in the Jeep.
I can see that Rishid doesn't believe me when I say I'm fine. "Really, I am," I whisper. "Ishizu's whom we must worry about now."
Rishid lays his hand over mine. "I do worry for her. But I worry for you as well, dear brother. After what nearly happened to you . . ."
"Don't speak of it, Rishid!" I beg. "Please!! I don't want you to mention it again!!"
Rishid's eyes narrow, but he kindly agrees.
"Really, I'm alright. I just don't want to think about . . . what happened." I look out at the endless sands.
****
By the time we reach the well, darkness has fallen. Shadows are looming everywhere, increasing my discomfort, but I push it all aside. I can't allow my experience to come back into my mind!
I can't help remembering what Rishid said, though. ~You have been through something atrocious. No one with a heart would expect you to behave entirely normal immediately afterward.~
But it's been many hours now! I should be able to behave normally now . . . shouldn't I? Mokuba just thinks I'm being stupid and childish. I know he does, after the snide remark he made on the airplane. Of course he doesn't know what happened . . . but why doesn't he realize that I wouldn't be acting this way unless I'd just come through something traumatic?!
Rishid gets out of the Jeep and goes over to the well. From the look in his eyes, I can tell he's afraid Ishizu may be laying at the bottom. The thought, admittedly, hadn't occurred to me before, but it does now. I run after him, paling.
"Is she . . . ?!"
"She is not down there." Rishid straightens up from where he was leaning over the side. "Thank God."
I breathe a sigh of relief and look around, trying to determine if she could be hidden somewhere in the village. "It seems like tabs are being kept on us," I comment. "Surely he must know we're at the well now. Why doesn't he call?!"
Rishid narrows his eyes. "Perhaps we should look around." He has not said how he feels, to again be at the place where he was abandoned so many years before, but I know he must be thinking of it.
"I agree," Kaiba says, coming up behind us without warning. The sudden movement and voice causes me to leap a mile into the air, and Mokuba is decidedly not impressed.
"It's just us," he tells me matter-of-factly with a glare. I am certain Rishid would have scolded him, were he not already advancing forward into the deserted village.
"I know it's you!" I retort, trying to conceal my embarrassment and hurt.
"Coulda fooled me." Mokuba pushes past me, still in his Mood.
"Don't go off alone!" Kaiba yells after him.
"Oh no!" Mokuba calls back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I might be attacked by an old mummy out here!"
"Mokuba!" Kaiba's eyes narrow. "Stop acting this way!"
"There you go, ordering me around again!"
I shake my head, wanting nothing more than for them to not bicker and for us to find Ishizu.
Before any of us know what is happening, the horrible sound of a whistling wind sweeps through, bringing half the sands of Egypt with it.
"It's a sandstorm!" I yell, throwing my arms up over my face. "We have to get somewhere for safety until it passes!" Not getting an answer, I worry whether the others have heard me. The sand blocks out all vision, and the wind's incessant chatter makes it next to impossible to hear anything.
I back up a bit, worrying over where Rishid and the Kaibas are. I wind up backing right into an open doorway and falling through. The door then slams shut and I am plunged into darkness.
No . . . it's too dark. . . . I don't want to be in the dark. . . . Do I have my Rod? Can I use it to make it light? And where have the others gotten themselves to?! Are they safe??! With the intensity of the storm outside, I know I do not dare to open the door until it has passed. Opening it now would do no one any good, I'm afraid.
"Is someone here?"
I freeze at the voice. It is Mokuba's.
"Y-yes. . . . I am here," I reply shakily, finding the Rod and trying to activate its powers of illumination. Somehow I just can't concentrate, however, and as I pull myself up I realize I am facing something leaning against the nearest wall. I can just barely make out the form of what looks like a coffin . . .
The wind's intensity grows and the rickety shack we are in rocks dangerously—as does the casket. Before I can flee to the opposite side of the room, it has flown open and released the occupant, which then falls on top of me.
My mind goes blank. It's attacking me!!! I'm being overpowered by it again and I won't be able to get away this time. . . . I've dropped the Rod. . . . Where is it??! I have to get the Rod. . . . I have to. . . .
"LET GO OF ME!!!!! STOP!!!!!!!"
I do not consciously realize I am screaming bloody murder, but I am. I have fallen to the floor and am in the process of trying to shove the creature back, but it won't move. It's grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me down. . . . Its lips move closer to mine. . . . Its arms are tightly around me. . . . It unzips my shirt and strokes my chest. . . .
I can't take this!! I CAN'T!!!! I let loose with a blood-curdling scream that I am very aware of this time.
"MARIK!!!!"
Mokuba's angry voice suddenly cuts in. Why is he angry at me?! What have I done?! Can't he see what this horrible . . . THING is trying to do to me???!
"Marik, just cut it out, will you?!" He picks up the Rod, which is shining now after all. "Just see how stupid you look!! I'm six years younger than you and Seto thinks I'm a big baby, but I don't fall on the floor screaming my lungs out because some dusty old mummy fell on me!!"
I try to get my breathing back to normal. Mummy? It's . . . it's only a lifeless mummy? I've been reliving the past again. Rishid was right! I can't act normal yet! I . . . I'm just not mentally capable of it at this time!!
I shove the mummy back, the full force of Mokuba's words hitting me hard. I can't even speak. I can only gaze up at him, my eyes wide and full of hurt. How?! How can he treat me this way?? I'm suffering! Can't he see that?
"If you ask me," Mokuba continues, "you're the big baby!" He shoves the Rod at me and stomps over to the other side of the shack.
I just let the Rod clunk to the floor as I curl into a ball, crossing my arms and laying them over my knees. What kind of a person am I?! I'm struggling so hard to put this behind me, to just concentrate on saving my sister, but it keeps rearing up and slapping me in the face. I'm not mentally stable right now!! I'm hurting. I'm hurting so badly!!
Now the full force of what I went through is hitting me again. I nearly had my virtue stolen from me. It was far worse than anything I have ever gone through before—even the most horrible physical torture and pain. I can recover from physical pain. The wounds heal and I am able to get back what I have lost. But . . . if that abomination had succeeded in what it was trying to do . . . there would have been no way to reverse it. I could never get my chastity back if it had been taken from me.
Mokuba wouldn't understand. . . . He'd only look at me in disgust again, I'm sure. The only ones who really understand are Rishid and Ishizu. Rishid . . . I don't know where he is now. . . . And Ishizu's been abducted. . . . Somehow I have to force myself to get up and find them. I have to!!
But I can't.
I'm not physically capable of moving from this spot. I simply cannot make myself move. All I can do right now is sit here and silently cry.
Please forgive me, my siblings. . . . I'm not strong enough. I tried so hard to put the past behind me . . . to not think of it. . . . But it keeps coming back. I'm so terrified right now!!
So very terrified. . . .
~Rishid~
The sandstorm forces Kaiba and myself into a nearby building that may have once been a hotel. To my concern, Marik and Mokuba are not here. They must be in another dwelling. But where?
And how will Marik fare? I know he is not well. Over the last few hours he tried so very hard to erase all memories of his catastrophic experience . . . but it will not work. The more he tries to push it away, the more it will haunt him. I want to be with him now, so badly. . . .
What if he is with Mokuba and the boy doesn't treat him kindly?! I know Mokuba has been in a Mood since the limousine ride. And he even made that terrible comment on the airplane. He wouldn't understand what has happened to my poor brother. Marik would never tell him. If Marik suddenly has another spell of being emotionally distraught, I know Mokuba would not know what to think.
Kaiba looks as perturbed at the separation as I am. "I have to get back to Mokuba!" he growls, heading for the door.
"You cannot go out there in the sandstorm!" I warn, instantly coming to his side.
Kaiba opens the door for a split second and then slams it shut again, brushing the sand out of his hair in irritation. "We can't just stay here! There's no telling what trouble Mokuba might be in!" He looks around, as if hoping for a secret entrance that will lead us to the abode where our brothers (hopefully) are.
I narrow my eyes. "I know. I am . . . afraid he may say something cruel to my brother." Perhaps I will have to confide in Seto Kaiba. Maybe he will be able to get Mokuba under control if he has an understanding of what my brother endured.
Kaiba grunts. "Mokuba's not angry at him."
"You know as well as I do the way he gets lately," I retort, helping him look for that secret passage that I am praying exists. "And Marik . . . he has come through something horrifying. He is trying so hard to pretend that nothing is wrong, but of course he is so very disturbed by it all."
"What's that?" Kaiba asks, pre-occupied.
I struggle before answering. I know Marik did not want anyone to know. But I cannot stand for things to go on the way they are.
"He was overpowered by something that had inhuman strength," I tell him finally. "It . . . very nearly violated him."
Kaiba stops what he is doing and turns to look at me with an unreadable expression.
"Mokuba does not understand my brother's petrified behavior," I continue, suddenly noting that the wind seems to have stopped.
Kaiba has noticed as well. He turns to the door, throwing it open and looking around. "Well, come on," he says gruffly. "We have to find them!" With that he marches out ahead, his trenchcoat blowing out behind him.
I narrow my eyes and quickly follow after him, praying that they—especially Marik—are alright.
****
We look over the entire village without luck and then come to the last shack.
"They've gotta be in there," Kaiba says, hurrying to the door, which is flapping back and forth in the wind. The breeze has picked up again—just slightly—and I know it is possible that another storm is on its way.
"Marik?!" I call, following Kaiba inside.
At first glance there is no one there. Then I become aware of a lone figure rocking back and forth slowly in the corner. I know it is my brother.
"Marik!!!" I cry in alarm, kneeling down beside him. I can see the fallen coffin on the floor, as well as the mummy, and I know what must have happened.
The boy looks up at me, his eyes dull and listless.
"Where's Mokuba??!" Kaiba demands, doing a doubletake when he sees Marik's expression.
"Mokuba?" Marik gives him a vague look. "Mokuba . . . he . . . he . . . thinks I'm stupid. . . . He doesn't understand!! He doesn't understand, Rishid!!!" Tears fill his eyes. "I am crazy, Rishid!!! I am . . ."
I gather him into my arms, outraged that Mokuba couldn't show some compassion, even though he doesn't know what happened. I cannot understand that boy! He was so kind at first, when we were leaving the house . . . but then, just because of a remark or two of Kaiba's, he went into one of his nasty spells. "No, Marik, no!" I whisper firmly. "You must believe me when I tell you that you are NOT crazy or stupid. Your behavior is normal. You are a very brave soul. Never let anyone tell you otherwise!"
"I don't feel very brave," Marik replies sadly as he hugs me. "I feel so worthless!!"
I look into his eyes, alarmed at those words. "Never say that, Marik!! Do you hear me?!" Gently I grip his shoulders. "You are worth everything to me! You are my dear brother. Do you remember when you told me that you never wanted to hear me call myself a servant again? Well, I never want to hear you say you are worthless! It is NOT true, my brother!! IT IS NOT!!"
Marik stares at me and then simply embraces me wordlessly. I can tell he is crying.
I look up at Kaiba as if to say, You can see what he's going through! Kaiba nods in agreement and then narrows his eyes again.
"Mokuba must've wandered off. I wouldn't put it past him in his state."
Before I can respond, Kaiba's cell phone rings and he snatches it up. He listens for only a few seconds and then goes pale.
"What is it?!" I cry, afraid that something has happened to Ishizu.
Kaiba closes his eyes tightly. "They have Mokuba," he says in a quiet tone. "They have Mokuba as well as your sister."