----Disclaimer----sigh I pestered and pestered the lawyers....but it was no use. sniffles They still won't let me own Yu-Gi-Oh!, "Wake Up", or you...--- -

Me: I have my headphones on, a Hoobastank song playing so loud it can be heard perfectly from a good ten feet away, I'm softly singing the lyrics Tell me what it's for, make me understand it, I've been crawling in the dark, looking for the answer...

Malik: back to normal, he snaps my headphones off my head Would you stop? Along with breaking my concentration, that infernal music has been causing some old foreign woman to keep calling you telling you to listen to the "Selena" CD's she sent you last year.

Me: I gulp at the mention of my mother, fearfully pulling my hat down over my blue hair as if she's about to burst in the door any minute and yell at me about it

Malik: rolls his eyes You're pathetic! Compared to what I can do to you, that little old Mexican woman is nothi—HEY, are you LISTENING?!

Me: I've already turned on my CD player again and am jamming to the Ogata Megumi version of "Homework Ga Owaranai

Malik: slaps his forehead Oi....

----Previously---- Your clothes were soaked through, the fabric of your shirt and pants engulfing the wounds still flowing blood. You heard approaching footsteps, and tried to open your eyes. (Leave me......alone.......please....just--)Your vision grew gray around the edges, and you managed to give a soft whimper before closing your eyes and blacking out......----

CHAPTER 1

You were in a tunnel. It was dark and cool, yet very cramped, and you had to crawl on your hands and knees along its dark expanse. The hole in the sand you had had to dig to get there was behind you, light of the creamy desert sun shining through and giving a bit of illumination of your stone passage. You weren't quite sure where you were going or why, but you knew that you wanted to go through this tunnel, regardless of the burning red scrapes you inflicted on your palms and shins. You blinked as your eyes got accustomed to the dark, ducking your head a bit as you accidentally brushed some dirt from the ceiling.

Despite the light from the beginning of the tunnel, you could only see about five feet in front of you, and then all was inky black ahead, a giant gaping hole, a mouth of some monstrous beast ready to swallow you. Your determination wavered a bit; unease creeping down your spine, but you bit your inner cheek and carried on. The stone of the tunnel was getting cooler, smoother, it would be easier now. No reason not to continue.....

You crawled and crawled, time was no object, all you kept telling yourself was that you would be there very soon, in only a few minutes, no doubt you would reach your destination very soon........

All of a sudden, the hole, which you could still see distantly behind you, suddenly collapsed, the sand caving in and slumping over the light...plunging you into total darkness. ....

You gave a choked gasp of surprise, all vision gone, and instinctively grabbed the wall for support as you lost your bearings completely. You were in the dark.....complete dark.........and something was in there with you. Sickening fear doused all over your, your insides ice cold in rising panic.

Yes, something long dead, white and shrunken and reeking of rot......trapped in this very tunnel for who knew how long, alone....until now. It would claim you as its eternal companion..... As if on cue, a few pebbles several hundred feet down shifted. Your eyes widened further, scrambling back hurriedly, heart pumping and mind numbed with panic. Yes it was there....and so were voices.

(the axe is preferable to the hatchet, dear child, the mess is half the fun....)

(how is a raven like a writing desk?)

(oh dear, the stench of death is much too strong, perhaps more blood will perfume it?)

You continued to scurry backwards, panting and covered in cold sweat, head pounding as the voices became louder and louder.....

(End trails, how sweet---)

(----Is the smell of rain, yes, my dear corpse?)

A pounding as well was growing more and more in volume by your ear, drawing steadily closer.

BAM BAM.

(What a delicious mask....what delicious flesh, dear Margaret!)

(I can smell your cunt!)

BAM BAM.

(YES! TAKE YOUR BEATING, WRETCHED ANIMAL!!)

Your pants began ragged sobs, you clutched at your head to try and make everything stop, but it only seemed to make the voices louder. The continuous pounding was suddenly so loud that you could actually find out where and what it was- it was on your wrist, a large brass clock dangling from a thick rope, slamming noise as it ticked.

(YES, DEAR , YOU SEE, THE CLOCK HAS BEEN TICKING FOR YOU FOR QUITE SOME TIME, AND YOU'RE ALMOST OUT OF TIME)

(OUT OF TIME TO RUN, OUT OF TIME TO SCREAM!!!!!!!)

But you did scream. Long and shrill. Blindly, you swung the clock, in a desperate attempt to get it off your arm, as the rope had begun to tighten painfully. It whistled with silvery grace through the air, the cold metal practically cooling the air as it passed through it. The rope just kept getting tighter and tighter, until it was so tightly clamped onto your wrist that a clear trickle of blood ran down your pale and clammy forearm. You swung even more desperately, and suddenly there was a sharp cracking and unspeakable pain as your arm broke. You gave another scream, clutching your arm and collapsing to the ground, legs writhing in agony. The voices, as well as the ticking of the clock, were disappearing.....

(....drown softly in my darkness.....)

Tick.....tock.....

You were given peace for only a moment, for then something came out the darkness, oozing and creeping from the blackness with unearthly moans and squelching sounds......Its shadow drooped lazily over the stone, practically leaving a stain....You let another sob escape your lips as you feebly scooted some two feet behind you before feeling your back bump up against the caved-in hole of sand. The figure looked down at you, a certain pleasure evident in its posture, as if it were feeding off your terror. The face was barely recognizable...practically all features shrouded in shadow, but one thing did stand out.

A third eye..... No, that wasn't it, it was a mark of an eye, in a particularly Egyptian style, placed squarely on what should have been the forehead, glowing with an unexplainably eerie light, practically jeering at you. Cold, slimy fingers wrapped themselves around your throat as you were mesmerized by that false eye, slick thumbs over windpipe and fingers over neck vertebrae. You choked, the breath stolen from you, lifted from the ground so that your feet dangled a few good feet (what.....?the tunnel.....is bigger....) off the floor. Your hands gripped weakly at the wet skin clamped onto yours, failing to pry those fingers from your neck. The life was leaving you, you could feel it seeping from your very pores and being sucked into this....this thing.

As you felt your last few breaths ebbing away, the creature slowly lifted its head and looked straight at you..... and if you could have screamed, you would have screamed the loudest you ever had.

The thing.....was you.

Its face—your face—was shrunken and discolored, rotted and fleshy. Your hair hung in wiry patches over your scabbed scalp, blood dripping down the majority of the strands. Your lips were deathly white, large yellow teeth poking over them, several missing or rotted. Those eyes, milky white and dead, looked straight into yours as you watched with muted horror, and that horrid mouth slowly opened....wider and wider and wider until it was so large it wasn't even humanly possible, and gave an earsplitting, unworldy shriek, and snapped your neck before you could so much utter a sound..

"NOOOOOOO!!!!" You shot up into a sitting position, your eyes clamped shut and your hands desperately gripping your bangs and scalp. Your eyes burned with horrified tears, your skin cold and sweaty. You tried to control your almost hysteric breaths, but to no avail, and you bent forward and buried your face into what felt like satin sheets.

A voice somewhere nearby you, not particularly pleasant, said, "Oi! Shut her up! She's gonna break my eardrums with all of that wailing!"

Another voice, just as throatey and uncomforting, "You! Girl! Oh do stop that, you insolent brat!" A hand forcefully pried you up out of the blankets while the other slapped you hard across the face, silencing your sobs as you gripped your reddening cheek. Already, the details of that horrible, horrible dream was fading away. You halfheartedly tried to grasp it back, but got nothing other than the fact that it had been unimaginably terrible. You rose up your other hand and hurriedly wiped the tears, threatening to spill, away. You took a shuddering breath and looked up, now calm, at the room surrounding you.

It was large, with dark gray walls and a heavy mahogany door and curtained windows. A large dresser stood gracefully in corner farthest from you, the sleek wood reflecting the light shining from the light fixture above you.

There were four men in the room with you(at least I think they are...), all of them wearing long, flowing purple cloaks, long hoods drooping over the eyes of two of the men. One stood nearby the dresser, his hood up and a sour look of irritation on his face. Another stood right beside your bedside, the one who had slapped you, his hood up as well and his mouth in a stern line. As quickly as you could, you averted your gaze away from them and turned to the other two, who had their hoods down. One towered over you(how tall is this guy? He looks about 6'11" or something!), large and tan, a long black ponytail sliding past the nape of his neck, intricate Egyptian symbols covering the left side of his face(Wait a minute, Egyptian? Wasn't that in my nightmare....? No, never mind, I'd rather not think of it...) , a serious yet curious look of speculation upon his features. And the other one.....

Your eyes widened a fraction at the sight of him. (W-wow!) His skin was a soft toffee brown, lighter than the taller one's, with a very fine complexion and high cheekbones. Soft, metallic blonde hair framed his face. His eyes were arched with long, thick lashes.....and his eyes....were a striking lavender shade, deep and liquidate. They danced....with practically a bitter light, that of someone who could've been treated better by the world. They frightened yet compelled you. As you realized he was staring you as you were him, you flusteredly brought your gaze away and stared fixedly at your hands.

"W-where am I? What happened?" you croaked.

The blonde one gave a decidedly cruel smirk at your question, turned around, motioned to the tall one, and the two left the room. The hooded one next to you said, "We found you curled up like some mangy stray in the alley downtown Domino. You were injured. What were you doing? Why did they chase you?"

You gulped and looked away again.....you couldn't remember. Not at all.

"I-I don't know...."

The man nearby you looked as if he were ready to smack you again, but just gave a threatening glare. "Fine, you won't tell me, but I doubt it's that important. A servant is a servant for Malik-sama."

"Malik-sama?"

"Yes, stupid woman, the great Malik-sama. He was the one you were so witlessly gawking at."

You flushed a bit but tried to cover it with a furrow of your brow. "W- wait....a servant? You mean I have to work here?"

The man near the dresser finally spoke up, "I don't know what Malik-sama sees in taking in this one." He cast a skeptical glance at the bandages on your shoulder and leg, "We don't need some weak inadequate needing to be taken care of."

His companion nodded, obviously sharing the same sentiments. "You'll be given a few days to heal, then you'll be expected to work like the rest of us. And don't even let the thought of escape cross your mind, because we will find you, and when we do, you'll wish you were full of holes back in that alley." With that, the two left, leaving you alone.

You gulped, wondering if it would be any safer here than it had been out there.

Me: I'm sniffling in mourning, kneeling next to the shattered pieces of my CD player Malik, you jerk! You didn't have to destroy it!

Malik: smirks and pays me no mind

Me: I'm about to go at him, but then change my mind Well, anyway, minna- san, I hope you liked it! Thank you so much for all your reviews!

Malik: is busy doing something, his back turned to me

Me: I get suspicious What are you doing.....?

Malik: chuckles, conveniently turning just enough so I see that his Sennen Rod is glowing.....

Me: OO This can't be good.....

Now, be a good little reader and press that button that says "Submit Review." C'mon. Do it. I'll give you a cookie! :D