Silver Angel: So many reviews for the last chapter! I feel like dancing!
Thank you to everyone! Check below for replies!
nanami: Thank you! Hopefully you're not too frustrated with my eratic updates! ^_^;
chibipluto1us: Thanks for the reviews. Did this come soon enough? Probably not. :sighs:
Cosmos StarGoddess: Yes this story is still going! Thanks for the review!
Ahknee/Kitteen: Really? You're putting me in the book of world records? ^_^ Yay! Thanks for the review! I'm sorry if you had to wait!
Kage-shadow-of-darkness: Yep, I've finally updated! And Hota's real now. MOST of the others will be coming back too, though I haven't decided on the order yet. If things go according to the outline I have planned for next chapter, then you'll get to see more of Hotaru, and lots of Yugi/Yami. Is that good? Oh yeah, I hope you like my Malik action that I've written for this chapter!
Devils Little Doll: Yeah, Hotaru's one of my favorite characters too. As for the pairings unless I have any significant changes of plans, she most likely will be with Malik - but you'll have to wait to see how I do that! Mwaahaahaa!
Lady-Tomoyo: As far as the other senshi coming back, that will mostly be explained in the next chapter, but I will let you know that there will be at least one - maybe more - important exception.
Angelgirl: You think my story is amazing? I'm so happy you like it! I'm also really glad you think the last chapter was one of my best! I put a lot of work into editing it so it was better! Thanks for the review!
Ss JK: You know, that review you sent to me really made my day! I'm so happy that I could change your opinion like that, and that you think my story is that good! I personally am not so sure, but you've made me so happy! ^_^
PerscomChu: So you like Saturn's attacks then? That's good! I actually haven't really seen that much of the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh - but I was a total fanatic during the first season. ^_^
Aira^o^: I like sweet Yami too! ^_^ ::goes all dreamy:: Thanks for you review!
Sailor Temptress: This is one of your favorite fics right now?! Really?! ^_^ Thanks for the review! I'll try to send out another chapter soon!
Gema J. Gall: Yeah, I was watching a Yu-Gi-Oh episode the other night, and I have to agree. He's not my favorite, but Kaiba is definitely cool! Especially when Mokuba's in trouble and you can see the softy underneath! ^_^
FireSenshi: Thanks for the review! Here's your update! ^_^
Silver Angel:: Anyways, after that rather lengthy reply session, here finally is chapter 11. I was watching a Yu-Gi-Oh episode where Malik was pretending to be a nice guy, and I realized, that when he's not acting evil, Malik is totally hot! Well, he's hot when he's evil, but he's so much more huggable when he's nice! ^_^ Anyways, here's a short interlude, showing some of his past, and this chapter goes out to all Malik lovers! ^_^
Interlude 1: Darkness Take Me
~ ~ ~
The sheets underneath him had once been a pristine white; crisp and smoothly tucked into the sides of the large canopy bed. Now, however, they were damp and stale with sweat, and lay rumpled underneath his small body. Every few minutes, a whimper managed to escape him, no matter how hard he tried to keep his pain locked inside. It really was too much for a small boy of ten to bear, though he didn't know that. To him, it was normal. His family had been the guardians of the Pharaoh's memory for generations, and ever since he had been old enough to understand, Malik had been told of how the guardianship of the Pharaohs memory would be passed on to him.
What his father never told him, was how he would be the keeper of the Pharaoh's memory. On his tenth birthday, Malik had woken up excited and happy. Birthday's always seemed to take so long to come, and the past year since he turned nine, he had been especially eager for it to come again.
In a normal situation, he would have been excited, but this year, Malik was nearly bouncing off the walls. One night soon after he had turned nine, he had by chance gotten up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. As he was creeping back to his room through the darkened hallways, voices had drifted his way, enticing him with all the delicious secrets that a boy of his age could want.
After moving closer, the platinum haired boy had found that the owners of the two voices were his father, and a business associate who occasionally came over to discuss 'things he would learn when he was older'. Of course, after realizing that this must be what the two were discussing now, Malik couldn't help but give in to his curiosity and try to learn them a little early. After all, his father didn't have to know, so what could it hurt?
"So you will do it on the boy's tenth birthday Risam?" his father's friend had asked. The man had always disturbed Malik. Something to do with the way his oily voice seemed to hang in the air and seep into every crevice no doubt.
"Yes," his father had answered. "In a year, the boy shall be ready to take up his duties." At that point, Malik had leaned forward, trying to hear a little clearer what those duties would be. Alas, luck had not been with him, and the smooth wooden floorboards had creaked underneath his feet causing his father and the man to look up at the disturbance. Eyes widening, the nine-year-old boy ran back down the hallway to his room diving onto his bed and pretending to sleep, hoping desperately that the two men would guess that he had heard them.
Ever since that night, he had been excited for his next birthday. Finally he would be grown up enough for his father to pass the family responsibility to him! He wouldn't let his father down! At least. that was what he had thought. In his childish innocence, he had believed that his father would make some sort of special presentation. At the end of his birthday party, he would get up and make a speech, sounding very formal, and pass some scrolls on to Malik, saying that he was now the keeper of the Pharaoh's memory.
Things are rarely as simple as a child's mind believes however. There had been no party - just a quiet family dinner, and wishes of a happy birthday from his parents, sister, and a few of the servants, like Rishid, who had always taken special care of him. Malik began to believe that perhaps his father had changed his mind. In the previous year, had he done something to make his father thing he wasn't mature enough?
But then after dinner. his father had requested to see him in private. The ten-year-old's eyes had practically glowed with anticipation as he followed his father to his office, where Risam Ishtar and his friend had pinned him down and carved the Pharaoh's memory into his back.
This brought his mind back to the present finally, dredging up from depths of his memories, his father's shouts to be stronger, and to take the pain like a man. He had barely been conscious when his father had picked him up and dropped him gracelessly back on the bed in his room. Malik hadn't moved since that time all those hours ago.
A tear fell silently down his face, rolling off the edge of his chin to fall onto the sheet and absorb into it in a tiny wet patch. It had hurt so much. Not just the physical pain, but a pain in his heart that came back every time he remembered the look on his father's face. His father telling him to be stronger. Suggesting that maybe he had made a mistake, and Malik wasn't ready for the responsibility he was being given.
The child sobbed, burying his face into his pillow to block any sounds. He had to lay on his stomach, so as not to aggravate the sharp stabbing feelings that remained in his back. He wasn't good enough - but he *Was* wanted. At the time that it hurt the most, he had felt another presence with him - an angry presence that felt so much like himself, and yet so different. It had shouted at him to 'Be Silent!', and Malik had. Stunned at the violence in the voice that sounded so much like his own, the boy had stopped his cries of pain, all sounds subsiding to only the smallest of occasional whimpers.
Silver Angel: Wow. Did I write that? It seems rather out of tone with some of the rest of the story, but - I like it. I've tried to find out as much as I could about Malik's past so that I could write his character better, and it seems to me that he mustn't have had that great of a childhood, if his father was the type to do that to him. More interludes will be scattered throughout the story, showing occasional bits of Malik's past, and maybe other characters too. ^_^
Announcer's Voice: On the next chapter of The Angel of Light: Hotaru is back? For real? But what about the other scouts? Serena finds out that it is possible to bring them back too, but with an important exception. "It merged with the planet hime. We can't bring anyone back without their crystal." And what has happened to Yami and Yugi?
Stay tuned for Chapter 12: What has been Lost.
Please Review! ^_^
nanami: Thank you! Hopefully you're not too frustrated with my eratic updates! ^_^;
chibipluto1us: Thanks for the reviews. Did this come soon enough? Probably not. :sighs:
Cosmos StarGoddess: Yes this story is still going! Thanks for the review!
Ahknee/Kitteen: Really? You're putting me in the book of world records? ^_^ Yay! Thanks for the review! I'm sorry if you had to wait!
Kage-shadow-of-darkness: Yep, I've finally updated! And Hota's real now. MOST of the others will be coming back too, though I haven't decided on the order yet. If things go according to the outline I have planned for next chapter, then you'll get to see more of Hotaru, and lots of Yugi/Yami. Is that good? Oh yeah, I hope you like my Malik action that I've written for this chapter!
Devils Little Doll: Yeah, Hotaru's one of my favorite characters too. As for the pairings unless I have any significant changes of plans, she most likely will be with Malik - but you'll have to wait to see how I do that! Mwaahaahaa!
Lady-Tomoyo: As far as the other senshi coming back, that will mostly be explained in the next chapter, but I will let you know that there will be at least one - maybe more - important exception.
Angelgirl: You think my story is amazing? I'm so happy you like it! I'm also really glad you think the last chapter was one of my best! I put a lot of work into editing it so it was better! Thanks for the review!
Ss JK: You know, that review you sent to me really made my day! I'm so happy that I could change your opinion like that, and that you think my story is that good! I personally am not so sure, but you've made me so happy! ^_^
PerscomChu: So you like Saturn's attacks then? That's good! I actually haven't really seen that much of the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh - but I was a total fanatic during the first season. ^_^
Aira^o^: I like sweet Yami too! ^_^ ::goes all dreamy:: Thanks for you review!
Sailor Temptress: This is one of your favorite fics right now?! Really?! ^_^ Thanks for the review! I'll try to send out another chapter soon!
Gema J. Gall: Yeah, I was watching a Yu-Gi-Oh episode the other night, and I have to agree. He's not my favorite, but Kaiba is definitely cool! Especially when Mokuba's in trouble and you can see the softy underneath! ^_^
FireSenshi: Thanks for the review! Here's your update! ^_^
Silver Angel:: Anyways, after that rather lengthy reply session, here finally is chapter 11. I was watching a Yu-Gi-Oh episode where Malik was pretending to be a nice guy, and I realized, that when he's not acting evil, Malik is totally hot! Well, he's hot when he's evil, but he's so much more huggable when he's nice! ^_^ Anyways, here's a short interlude, showing some of his past, and this chapter goes out to all Malik lovers! ^_^
Interlude 1: Darkness Take Me
~ ~ ~
The sheets underneath him had once been a pristine white; crisp and smoothly tucked into the sides of the large canopy bed. Now, however, they were damp and stale with sweat, and lay rumpled underneath his small body. Every few minutes, a whimper managed to escape him, no matter how hard he tried to keep his pain locked inside. It really was too much for a small boy of ten to bear, though he didn't know that. To him, it was normal. His family had been the guardians of the Pharaoh's memory for generations, and ever since he had been old enough to understand, Malik had been told of how the guardianship of the Pharaohs memory would be passed on to him.
What his father never told him, was how he would be the keeper of the Pharaoh's memory. On his tenth birthday, Malik had woken up excited and happy. Birthday's always seemed to take so long to come, and the past year since he turned nine, he had been especially eager for it to come again.
In a normal situation, he would have been excited, but this year, Malik was nearly bouncing off the walls. One night soon after he had turned nine, he had by chance gotten up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. As he was creeping back to his room through the darkened hallways, voices had drifted his way, enticing him with all the delicious secrets that a boy of his age could want.
After moving closer, the platinum haired boy had found that the owners of the two voices were his father, and a business associate who occasionally came over to discuss 'things he would learn when he was older'. Of course, after realizing that this must be what the two were discussing now, Malik couldn't help but give in to his curiosity and try to learn them a little early. After all, his father didn't have to know, so what could it hurt?
"So you will do it on the boy's tenth birthday Risam?" his father's friend had asked. The man had always disturbed Malik. Something to do with the way his oily voice seemed to hang in the air and seep into every crevice no doubt.
"Yes," his father had answered. "In a year, the boy shall be ready to take up his duties." At that point, Malik had leaned forward, trying to hear a little clearer what those duties would be. Alas, luck had not been with him, and the smooth wooden floorboards had creaked underneath his feet causing his father and the man to look up at the disturbance. Eyes widening, the nine-year-old boy ran back down the hallway to his room diving onto his bed and pretending to sleep, hoping desperately that the two men would guess that he had heard them.
Ever since that night, he had been excited for his next birthday. Finally he would be grown up enough for his father to pass the family responsibility to him! He wouldn't let his father down! At least. that was what he had thought. In his childish innocence, he had believed that his father would make some sort of special presentation. At the end of his birthday party, he would get up and make a speech, sounding very formal, and pass some scrolls on to Malik, saying that he was now the keeper of the Pharaoh's memory.
Things are rarely as simple as a child's mind believes however. There had been no party - just a quiet family dinner, and wishes of a happy birthday from his parents, sister, and a few of the servants, like Rishid, who had always taken special care of him. Malik began to believe that perhaps his father had changed his mind. In the previous year, had he done something to make his father thing he wasn't mature enough?
But then after dinner. his father had requested to see him in private. The ten-year-old's eyes had practically glowed with anticipation as he followed his father to his office, where Risam Ishtar and his friend had pinned him down and carved the Pharaoh's memory into his back.
This brought his mind back to the present finally, dredging up from depths of his memories, his father's shouts to be stronger, and to take the pain like a man. He had barely been conscious when his father had picked him up and dropped him gracelessly back on the bed in his room. Malik hadn't moved since that time all those hours ago.
A tear fell silently down his face, rolling off the edge of his chin to fall onto the sheet and absorb into it in a tiny wet patch. It had hurt so much. Not just the physical pain, but a pain in his heart that came back every time he remembered the look on his father's face. His father telling him to be stronger. Suggesting that maybe he had made a mistake, and Malik wasn't ready for the responsibility he was being given.
The child sobbed, burying his face into his pillow to block any sounds. He had to lay on his stomach, so as not to aggravate the sharp stabbing feelings that remained in his back. He wasn't good enough - but he *Was* wanted. At the time that it hurt the most, he had felt another presence with him - an angry presence that felt so much like himself, and yet so different. It had shouted at him to 'Be Silent!', and Malik had. Stunned at the violence in the voice that sounded so much like his own, the boy had stopped his cries of pain, all sounds subsiding to only the smallest of occasional whimpers.
Silver Angel: Wow. Did I write that? It seems rather out of tone with some of the rest of the story, but - I like it. I've tried to find out as much as I could about Malik's past so that I could write his character better, and it seems to me that he mustn't have had that great of a childhood, if his father was the type to do that to him. More interludes will be scattered throughout the story, showing occasional bits of Malik's past, and maybe other characters too. ^_^
Announcer's Voice: On the next chapter of The Angel of Light: Hotaru is back? For real? But what about the other scouts? Serena finds out that it is possible to bring them back too, but with an important exception. "It merged with the planet hime. We can't bring anyone back without their crystal." And what has happened to Yami and Yugi?
Stay tuned for Chapter 12: What has been Lost.
Please Review! ^_^
