Yami Marik chuckled to himself as he entered his room. The Millennial Puzzle was in one hand, the two god cards he possessed in the other. The Millennial Ring hung around his neck. In his pocket was the Millennial Necklace. And his prized Millennial Item, the rod, was hooked in his belt. He had the power of the pharaoh, and was only missing one card to unlocking power to claim the world.

Yami Marik also now possessed more than half of the Millennial Items. He was seriously considering claiming the rest. The Millennial Scales were on the airship, and they would be an easy target. The Millennial Key would be a bit harder, given the phantom-like habits of its bearer. But the Millennial Eye would be the hardest, because somehow Yami Bakura had maintained his possession of it, even after losing his body. Nonetheless, Yami Marik had the ring, and with it access to the thief's soul.

"Obelisk the Tormentor is on this ship somewhere," he told himself, smiling wickedly. "There is no way it will escape my grasp. And perhaps, I'll go after the remaining Millennial Items next, as soon as I have claimed the power to rule the world. Then, nothing will be able to stop me!" He laughed to himself. It was a laugh that would drive any sane person into hiding. "But first for a little fun."

He leaned back and entered his own mind. It would have been a very interesting sight, but it would require the Millennial Key to see. At first glance, it seemed like there was only one soul room. That's because Yami Marik had grown so strong that his soul room had completely engulfed Marik's soul room. So, there was one soul room trapped within a much large, much eviler soul room.

But that wasn't the end of it. Yami Marik now had two more souls at his mercy, courtesy of the fact that he had won two Millennial Items with souls trapped in them. Yami Yu-Gi and Yami Bakura were now also prisoners within his mind, along with good Marik. There also was another prisoner. Bakura was trapped within Yami Bakura's mind, the prisoner of a prisoner.

It wouldn't be possible to look at this situation and just see soul rooms. Each person's mind resembled what he looked like in reality. It was similar to the times Yu-Gi and Yami walked through each other's minds.

Yami Marik entered his own soul room. His soul room would scare any rational person. The walls were cold, yellowish sandstone bricks, prison walls. Chains hung from the ceiling and shackles from the walls. Things like whips, maces, and thumbscrews, as well as a rack and an iron maiden lined the bulk of the walls. In the middle was a long table covered with daggers and swords of various lengths and shapes. His soul room was a torture chamber.

Yami Marik had pulled Yami's soul out of the Millennial Puzzle and was now dragging him by the neck. Yami was still exhausted from the duel he had lost and hardly could struggle. Yami Marik dragged him to the back end of the room. There, he tied Yami's forearms together and connected them to one of the chains suspended from the ceiling. Yami's arms were crossed, so that his hands hung just over his elbows above his head. They were tied at the middle of the forearm, so that he was forced to remain standing. To his right Marik was tied in an identical position. But Marik seemed to be even less conscious than Yami. His head drooped to his chest and he was hanging by his arms, his feet doing little more than brushing the ground. They were not supporting his weight at all. To Marik's right Yami Bakura was tied up. He was bruised and cut in several places, but he seemed furious more than anything.

"So the great pharaoh has finally fallen," spat Yami Bakura.

"Ugh…" groaned Yami, trying to come to his senses.

"I am going to enjoy making the last moments of your life the most painful moments you have ever lived," Yami Marik laughed.

"…what…?" asked Yami, dazed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you immediately," said Yami Marik with an evil smirk. "I'm going to make it long and painful." He turned to his barely conscious hikari. "However, this one will die today."

Yami stood straighter. He was still a bit disoriented, but it was fast fading. "Marik!"

Yami Marik laughed. "Enjoy your stay here pharaoh, because it will be the last place you ever see." He paused, smiling evilly, enjoying making Yami squirm. "I think I'll target your friends next. I need someone to test my new powers on."

"If you lay one finger on them!" growled Yami. He tried to pull forward, but the chains around his arms refused to budge.

Yami Marik laughed, "You can't do anything about it." With that, he left his soul room to plot harm to those who weren't prisoners in his mind.

Yami Yu-Gi began to struggle against his bonds without luck.

"Try all you want, pharaoh," said Yami Bakura, sharply. "You won't be able to break free."

"I must help my friends!" retorted Yami Yu-Gi.

Yami Bakura made a chortling noise, "They'll be long dead before you even get close to getting out of here."

"I'm not going to give up!"

"Ugh…" groaned Marik.

"Marik?" asked Yami.

Marik shook his head once, as if to clear it, but he did not raise it. "Pharaoh?"

"How…How is this possible?" Yami asked. He looked up at the door. "Who was that?"

"That…that was my darker side," said Marik, although he still sounded a bit confused. "He was created within my own heart, and now…now he is stronger than I am…"

"That's what Ishizu meant!" gasped Yami. Marik went quiet, struggling to stay awake.

"You're a fool," spat Yami Bakura.

Yami looked over and returned to intense glare with one of his own. "What have you done with Bakura?"

"None of your concern!" snapped Yami Bakura.

"I'm making it! Bakura is my friend. What have you done with him?" asked Yami.

"He's alive," replied Yami Bakura, glowering.

"I swear if you have harmed him in any way…!" started Yami.

"You had better be more concerned for yourself!" snapped Yami Bakura. "Because if that evil spirit doesn't kill you first, you can bet I will!"

Yami made a low, threatening noise in the back of his throat. However, since both of them were tied up, they couldn't be a real threat to each other. The chains that held them would not release them until Yami Marik allowed them too.

"A slow, painful death is what you deserve!" yelled Yami Bakura, venomously. "You deserve everything that happens to you in here! I only regret it's not me who will bring you to your knees!"

"What are you talking about?!" demanded Yami.

Yami Bakura glared at him with a look of pure hatred. "You deserve to suffer for all the pain you brought to others 5,000 years ago, pharaoh!" Every time he said 'pharaoh' it sounded almost like a curse.

"What?" asked Yami, now sounding completely baffled.

"Don't tell me you don't remember the events of your life!"

Yami looked back blankly for a moment, before his eyes flickered to the ground.

"You really don't remember," said Yami Bakura, who now sounded a bit surprised.

The expression on Yami Yu-Gi's face answered it without words.

Yami Bakura, however, was far from showing pity, "Your cursed soul brought the deaths of hundreds and the near destruction of Egypt1!"

(1See the Pharaoh's Memory saga in the mangas and anime.)

"You lie!" snapped Yami.

"Think that if you like, but I know it is true," Yami Bakura retorted. "And, unlike you, I remember what happened!" It was hard to tell who's face showed more disdain at that moment. They were both death-glaring at each other. "That's why you deserve every misery you get!"

"I wouldn't be talking, thief!" yelled Yami. "You're trapped here too! And I doubt you'll be spared any suffering from that psychopath!"

"A small price to pay to watch you put in your place!"

"Listen, we're both trapped here. Alone we cannot hope to escape, but maybe if we work together…"

"I'd rather die that help you!!!"

Yami Bakura had spoken so harshly that his voice echoed strangely off of the stone walls of Yami Marik's soul room. His tone was so final that it left Yami Yu-Gi with nothing else to say. In the silence, Marik struggled to get his feet back underneath himself.

"Marik! Are you okay?" asked Yami, turning his attention away from Yami Bakura.

"Save your breath, pharaoh, he's beyond hope," said Yami Bakura.

Yami ignored him. "Marik, are you okay?" he repeated.

"Ugh…pharaoh?" asked Marik, weakly.

"Yes," replied Yami. There was an unmistakable grunt from Yami Bakura.

"I…I'm so sorry f-for everything I did to you and your friends," said Marik without raising his head.

"I don't hold…" started Yami but Marik continued.

"You must…you have to promise me th-that you'll get out…of here," he replied. "Promise…"

"I'll do everythi—"

"Please…promise me…" said Marik. "Please tell my sister…tell Ishizu that I'm s-sorry and th-that I love her. And…tell…tell Odion…tell my brother that…" He coughed several times before he could continue. "Tell my brother that…I was wrong…he is…part of the f-family."

"I will," replied Yami. "But you must hang in there! I am sure they would rather hear it from you than me! You will make it out of here! Somehow, we will escape."

"You're a fool," said Yami Bakura. "And soon you'll be a dead fool." Again he was ignored.

"Marik, look at me," said Yami. Marik didn't move.

THUD! The door of Yami Marik's soul room was shoved open so quickly and forcefully that it hit the wall. Yami Marik entered, his eyes laughing at his three prisoners.

"Let us go!" demanded Yami.

"Shout all you want pharaoh, but you are going nowhere," replied Yami Marik with a deadly smirk. He walked over to the table in the middle of the room and began to look over the assortment of knives. He selected one towards the right end. It was rather short, hardly more than a razor, but it was very, very sharp. Holding it, he turned to his prisoners. Yami Bakura and Yami both seemed equally nervous. Marik was still staring at the ground and hadn't noticed.

Yami Marik walked up to Marik, "Now you're going to die."

"Leave him alone!" snapped Yami.

Yami Marik turned to him. "I think you'll be interested in this. Because you will be next." Before Yami could reply, Yami Marik slugged him hard in his unprotected stomach. Yami jerked like he was going to double over, but the chains stopped him. He had lost his balance, thus putting all of his weight on his arms. That in itself was surprisingly painful. Yami Marik chuckled before turning back to his first victim.

"You thought you were better than me," said Yami Marik to Marik. Marik did not move. "You thought you could get rid of me. But now I will be the one to get rid of you." Still, Marik did not respond. "Don't worry, you won't be alone long. I'll send your sister and brother to join you!" Marik inhaled sharply, but did not look up. "Do you think you're too good to look me in the eye?"

Yami Marik put the knife to the left side of Marik's throat, forcing him to raise his head. He kept the pressure on until Marik could raise his head no further. Yami gasped when he saw Marik's face. His head was tilted to the right, so Yami had a good view. Marik's left eye was swollen badly where his dark side had punched him before. His lip was split and there was a trickle of blood that had dried on his chin. Marik winced and closed his eyes.

"Not so arrogant now, are you?" taunted Yami Marik. Marik said nothing. Yami Marik laughed and circled behind his hikari. "You'll be begging for death before I am done with you."

"You fiend!" snapped Yami.

Yami Marik said nothing. He slashed the back of Marik's shirt open, revealing the tattoo that had been forced on him on his tenth birthday. Marik gasped, having a good idea about what was going to happen next.

Yami Bakura, however, had no clue. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"If I was in your position, I wouldn't be using that tone," snapped Yami Marik.

"I'll talk however I want to!" snapped Yami Bakura.

WHAM! Yami Marik punched him in the stomach. Yami Bakura half-curled up, though he was trying to look like he wasn't in pain.

"This has gone far enough!" exclaimed Yami. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

"You had better be glad it's him and not you," replied Yami Marik. It didn't matter what they said, they could not dampen his mood any.

"Save your breath, pharaoh," growled Yami Bakura.

"Don't you care at all about what he may do?!" demanded Yami.

Yami Bakura glared disdainfully at Marik. "It's his fault I'm here in the first place! He'll get no pity from me!"

"I grow tired of your lip, tomb robber," said Yami Marik. He walked back to the table and picked up a rather filthy rag. Then, he turned to Yami Bakura and gagged him. Yami Bakura struggled, but there was little he could do with his hands tied.

"That's much better!" laughed Yami Marik. Yami Bakura glared. That was all he could do, and glare he did.

"Stop this already!" demanded Yami.

"Never, pharaoh," replied Yami Marik. "However, I enjoy hearing what you have to say. Your pathetic attempts to try and help." He laughed. "I enjoy watching you squirm. Now, this boy dies."

Yami Marik once again turned to Marik. He set the blade of his knife along one of the lines of his tattoo. "Do you remember the day you got this?" Yami Marik asked him, sinisterly. "That was the day the hatred in your heart grew so great it created me. Now, I will destroy you. But first, I am going to make you relive every painful moment of that day." He pushed the knife in deep, about half an inch, and dragged it across the tattoo line.

Marik's head snapped up, his violet eyes wide open in horror. The pain on his back was forcing him to remember the worst day of his life in stunningly clear details.

Yami Marik moved up with the knife, following the lines marring Marik's back. Marik gasped in pain and tried to struggle away from the knife-edge, but to no avail. Yami Marik turned the knife again, this time tracing the design along Marik's low back. Marik was clearly doing everything he could not to scream. His blood was flowing, and red drops began to spot the floor beneath him.

"Leave him alone!" Yami bellowed.

WHAM! Yami Marik hit him as hard as he could in the jaw. Yami was stunned, literally seeing stars for a moment. When he could focus, he was truly surprised to notice that his jaw wasn't broken or dislocated.

Yami Marik continued to trace Marik's tattoo with the knife. Before he had even half finished, Marik's head had dropped to his chest again and he was making noises that sounded like a half whimper, half sob. Yami Yu-Gi had tried to interject on Marik's behalf, but had only been punched. Yami Bakura looked like he had some nasty things to say to all of them, but the gag saw to it that those words went unspoken.

When Yami Marik finished, Marik's back was completely blood red. His blood was starting to form a small puddle on the floor. Yami Marik's hands were telltale red. Marik was still sobbing, and his dark side saw this and laughed. Forcing him to relive those memories like that was probably the worst thing he could have done to Marik.

Yami Marik walked back to the table in the middle of the room and placed the small knife back where he had picked it up. He then selected a long, narrow knife that was probably a foot long. He turned back to Marik and held the knife right in front of his face. "This will be the one to kill you." Marik didn't reply. If he could collapse, he would have. His legs weren't supporting his weight again; he was merely dangling from his arms.

"Stay away from him!" demanded Yami. "You have done enough damage already!"

Yami Marik grinned and kicked the legs out from under Yami, forcing him to hang from his arms until he could regain his footing.

"Don't worry, he won't die quickly, I guarantee that," said Yami Marik. With that he shoved the dagger several inched into Marik's right shoulder. Marik's head jerked up and he screamed in pain.

"Marik! Hang in there!" called Yami. "You must be strong! It's your own will that will determine if you live or die!"

He couldn't help but notice Yami Bakura's disdainful glare. His thoughts were written across his face, "The boy has already given up."

Another scream brought Yami Yu-Gi's attention back to Marik. Yami Marik had stabbed him in his upper right thigh, forcing Marik to put all his weight on his left. That didn't last long. Laughing, Yami Marik knifed Marik in his left leg, making it impossible for Marik to stand without feeling great pain. More blood was spotting the floor. Marik was breathing in ragged gasps. He wavered a bit, and probably would have fallen if he could.

"You're a monster!" yelled Yami.

Yami Marik didn't answer, he just grinned malevolently at Marik. He raised the knife and drove it a few inches in Marik's upper left bicep. Now, Marik couldn't even hang without putting pressure on his injuries. He screamed when the knife went in, but it sounded weak.

Yami Marik was laughing, thoroughly enjoying the pain he was inflicting. He raised the knife again, and this time pushed it into Marik's abdomen. Too hurt to scream, Marik only jerked on the chains, his eyes wide.

"Marik! No!" yelled Yami.

For once, Yami Bakura seemed to have nothing to say. He looked away, the usual hatred his face shown was simply not there. It was hard to hate someone when he was about to be murdered.

Yami Marik laughed as Marik whimpered in pain, the knife hovering only a few inches away from his heart. "Now, to end you!"

He lowered the knife one inch and plunged it in all the way. It missed Marik's heart by that one inch, but still hit a few arteries, as well as piercing his lung. This was the first time Yami Marik had driven the knife in its full length. A few inches were poking out of Marik's back. Blood was dripping out of both ends of his newest wound. However, Yami Marik did not pull the knife out. He left it in, knowing that Marik would die more slowly that way.

Marik hung limply from the chains, gasping for breath. His attempts to draw in air sounded like cries of pain, which they were. His own blood was forming a puddle beneath his feet.

Yami Marik stepped back, like an artist admiring his work, "I'll enjoy watching you gasp out your last minutes here."

But then he looked over his shoulder towards the door, as if he heard a noise the others didn't. With a curse under his breath he hurried out of his soul room. Something outside of his mind demanded his attention.

"Marik! Marik!" called Yami. "Look at me! Focus! You have to stay strong to survive this!"

"Please…" gasped Marik with a shudder. He could taste blood in his mouth, which had formed there when he tried to breathe with his injured lung. "Please…remember…to ………tell… …them."

His whole body went limp. Marik had blacked out from the pain.

"Marik! Listen to me! Say something!" urged Yami, ignoring the looks Yami Bakura was giving him. Yami Yu-Gi began to look around the room, for anything he could reach, anything that could help.

CLANK! Yami looked back to his right. The knife that had been in Marik's chest had hit the floor. Marik was gone. The chains that had held him swung a few inches back and forth. But all signs of Marik even being there was gone, even the blood on the floor. Yami Bakura was looking away, oddly.

"Marik!" called Yami. "No! Marik…"

But Marik could not answer. Marik was dead.

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Ishizu had felt it like a cold slap of water in the face. She stood up suddenly with a gasp.

"Marik!" she whispered. She searched her heart for the light she recognized as her brother. But she could not find it anywhere. "N-No…" She slid back into her seat, aghast. It took about three seconds for it all to register. When she finally could grasp the truth about what had happened, she burst into tears for one of the first times in her life.

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