Bakura growled and looked at the four bodies in front of him.
" If he thinks I'm going to help them he's even crazier then I thought." His eyes stopped on the Kaiba brothers and he smirked. " He's a hell of a lot stupider then I thought." He took a step forward but Yami's voice stopped him.
" Bakura." Bakura scowled and turned around.
" Back so soon?" he asked bitterly. Yami grabbed his arm and the room disappeared, becoming shadows. " I hope you don't think I'm going to help you," Bakura said shaking off Yami's hand.
" Maybe I'll just leave you here then," Yami said walking away from him. Bakura walked after him.
" It's not like I was really going to do anything," he tried to redeem himself. Yami wasn't paying attention. " If you ask me, I think he might need to let a little of that money go. Teach him that money isn't everything."
" Money isn't what he cares about. It's just a benefit of what he really wants. Besides, what would you do with money? It's not like you'd ever use it." Bakura crossed his arms.
" Just shut up and get on with whatever it is you're doing."
" I thought I was."
" Do you have to respond to everything I say?"
Tea woke up first, still screaming inside her head at the fact that her friends had abandoned her. Every muscle in her body ached and when she sat up she found Tristan lying across her lap. She pinched his side and he jumped awake.
" Ow. Hey, I told you never to do that again!" he yelled holding the spot where she'd pinched him.
" Sorry," she shrugged. " It's just the first thing I thought of. Can you…get off me now?" He looked down and blushed then moved away from her. She shook out her legs.
" I had the strangest dream…" Tristan started, then he noticed Kaiba and Mokuba. He looked around the room. " Where are we?"
" I don't know but we're a few bodies short," Tea answered. Tristan looked at her like she was insane and remembering how he'd acted toward Kaiba in the shadow realm he started to wonder if they were really out of there or not. " I mean, not everyone's here," sTeasaid when she saw his face. She hit him to make the thoughts go away.
" Sorry. It just sounded…" she glared at him and he stopped. " My head's still kind of fuzzy," he changed the subject, touching a spot on his forehead. " It feels like someone's still in it, like, talking to me." It was Tea's turn to give him a look.
" We call that going crazy," she said. " Just don't start listening to them or I'll have to call the mental hospital." Tristan scowled.
" Very funny," he said sarcastically. " But I wasn't joking." He looked at the older Kaiba again. " Once you've felt that vengeance and let it take over, it's hard to get rid of. I can see how a killer can easily become a serial killer." He looked back at Tea hoping that he wasn't scaring her.
" But you never killed anyone."
" He wanted to," Kaiba grunted making both of them jump. He pushed himself up and forced his eyes open, despite the horrific headache he had. They watched him wordlessly as he looked over his brother quickly and then stood up. He pulled out his cell phone and started to dial a number. " I don't know what just happened but I'm not going to sit around and let it happen again." He turned his back to them.
" Seto?" Mokuba said weakly. " Is that you?" Tea smiled as he woke up.
" How are you feeling?" she asked. Mokuba looked at her a minute as if giving his brain time to register who she was.
" You didn't ask me how I was feeling," Tristan said, crossing his arms. Tea hit him again.
" I need the location of a Marik Ishtar." Kaiba's voice made Mokuba look up at his brother.
" Seto, what's going on? Why are you looking for Marik and not…"
" Because they're not here and Marik is the only one who can get us to them," Kaiba explained. He went back to the person on the phone. " I don't care HOW you find him, just do it!" He hung up. " Let's go Mokuba." Mokuba rushed to his feet and followed his brother out the door.
" He doesn't waste any time," Tristan said looking to Tea to see what she was going to do. She was already out the door after them. Tristan sighed and followed.
" Wake up!" an angry voice ordered. Water came next. Joey sneezed and spit, then shook his head like a wet dog. He opened his eyes when he realized that he couldn't move.
" What the hell?" he asked, looking down at the chair he was tied to. He looked up and came face to face with Marik, who was seated backward on a chair a few feet in front of him. He had his chin resting on his arms, which were crossed over the back of the chair. A table was next to him with a large amount of rope and two knives lying on it. The rest of the room was empty with only one door as an exit. Marik smiled as Joey attempted to break free of the ropes holding him down.
" Not so tough now, are we?" Joey stopped the struggle and looked at him crossly.
" Only a coward would do something like this," he spat out. Marik laughed and dropped his arms, sitting up straight.
" But it's so much fun watching you squirm. Did you have a nice dream? I mean I know it wasn't perfect but I thought I had Kaiba down pretty well at the end. You almost believed it didn't you?" Marik laughed again.
" You bastard," Joey growled. Marik sighed.
" Well I guess it would be wrong to take all the credit. A part of him was really in there. You were just so much fun to play with. I almost regret having to kill such a lively one," he said with a smirk.
" Besides the fact that you're an asshole, why me? I thought Yugi was the one you were angry with." Marik shrugged.
" I'll have my revenge on him soon enough. In fact, he's on his way right now. If he doesn't get lost he may even make the show." Marik knocked the chair he was sitting on over as he stood up. Joey tensed as he walked over and grabbed Joey's chin. " You're just here for pure amusement. I've never met a mortal who could match my power…well, almost anyway." He let go and walked around him, stopping somewhere behind him. Joey had to hide his nervousness at having the dark spirit out of sight. " So, should I kill you now or wait for the audience to arrive?" Joey closed his eyes as Marik slid his arms around Joey's chest and set his chin down on Joey's shoulder.
" Can we not do this at all?" Joey asked hopefully, not hiding his disgust very well. Marik smiled.
" Where's the fun in that?" he whispered precociously.
" Let him go, Marik." Marik's smile faded and he stood up straight, releasing Joey to cross his arms. Free from the contact Joey opened his eyes. His face brightened at the sight of Yami in the doorway.
" Pharaoh," Marik greeted ungratefully. " How nice of you to join us." He put his hands on the back of Joey's chair but made no move to attack or use him for a shield or anything. Yami held his ground as well, never breaking eye contact with Marik. " How are you liking the world you gave to me?" Marik asked waving his arms out to indicate everything around them. Yami crossed his arms, ignoring the question.
" How did you regain control of the real Marik? When I banished you I banished ALL of you."
" Bakura isn't the only one who knows how to get what he wants when the odds are against him. There's always some way around things. I was disappointed to return and see that he'd much rather be your friend then help rid the world of you."
" I resent that. We're far from friends," Bakura snapped, stepping out from behind Yami. Marik's face brightened.
" Ooo, a party. Oh how much fun this will be." He clapped his hands together in mock excitement. " Too bad you weren't invited." Marik moved away from Joey and snapped his fingers. Something large dropped down from the ceiling, aimed at where Bakura was. Yami pushed him out of the way then tried to escape himself but didn't quite make it, the object bringing him to the ground and knocking him out. Bakura pulled away from the wall that Yami had pushed him into and wiped spit from his lip with a scowl.
" You'll regret that," he said, angry at the fact that Yami had helped him more then at Marik for trying to kill him. Marik raised an eyebrow in amusement.
" But I thought he wasn't your friend," he said acting innocent. Bakura growled.
" He's not but he's mine to kill." Bakura started toward him and Marik didn't even flitch.
" I guess you forgot. You're in my world now," he said. He snapped his fingers again and ropes shot up from the floor, bringing Bakura down. The harder Bakura fought the tighter the ropes got. He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, trying to think of a way out. It was true that he had also spent a great amount of time in the shadow realm but he had never been able to control the things that went on there. That either proved that Marik was the ultimate darkness or that he had found a place where the shadows were so weak that they feared him. Bakura hoped it was the second. At least that way there was a way out.
Marik walked over and knelt down so his face was close to Bakura's. " Have you ever wondered how Little Ryou felt when you were beating the crap out of him?" He straightened so that Bakura had to look up at him. " I think you're going to find out…through his eyes. At least I know he'll scream." Bakura gave him the dirtiest look he could muster and spat at him. Marik just looked away, unfazed. He walked over to Yami next. The spirit was still alive and surprisingly, not all that injured, just a bump on the head and a few scratches. Marik sighed. " Just a little too late there. Such a shame, I was so looking forward for a fight out of you. I guess I'll just have to wait now." He drug Yami's body over to the fallen chair. Setting it up straight again he sat Yami down on it and grabbed the rope from the table, tying him to it as tightly as he had Joey tied, only Yami he blindfolded. He looked back at his first victim. " Now. We wait." He slid a hand down the side of Joey's face and smiled then disappeared from the room. Seconds later Joey and Bakura slipped into a deep sleep.
" How long do you think we've been walking?" Ryou asked, stopping a minute to look around.
" I don't know," Yugi answered. It seemed like an eternity. Yami had been right when saying that time went by differently in the shadow realm. Seconds could have passed that felt like years. He was sorry that he had even been curious. So far they'd only been attacked twice, the first attack being the only successful one. Yugi's arm was starting to swell and he was having trouble ignoring the pain that didn't seem to be going away. At least the bleeding had stopped. " But it feels like we're walking in circles," Yugi added, no longer trying to stay positive.
" I think we are," Ryou said, dropping to the ground. Yugi followed suit.
" How big can the shadow realm be?" Yugi sighed, looking around for anything new to convince him that Ryou's assumption wasn't true.
" Bakura says that it has no beginning or end. Just never-ending darkness…" Ryou paused as if he was going to continue but he didn't.
" Why does it feel like I'm moving when I'm not?" Yugi said in a half whine. " Suddenly I don't feel so good." Ryou watched him as he closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths as if waiting for the sickness to go away. He sensed something wrong about the way Yugi looked and he noticed that Yugi's arm had started bleeding again, even though not very badly. " I feel like we're in a war only there's nothing around us to fight," Yugi continued still not opening his eyes.
" That's not true," Ryou said. " Everything around here is something to fight. Every shadow is some kind of darkness trying to escape to the real world. That's all that Marik is too. He never really left here. Just like Bakura, he left a part of himself there and the real Marik couldn't ignore it. He probably stole the Millennium Rod from the museum and that's how the evil spirit could control us from here. It's just channeling. The only way to be totally rid of the darkness is to kill the real Marik." Ryou looked down, no longer really talking to Yugi but more like thinking out loud. Yugi didn't even seem to be paying attention anyway. Ryou wasn't even sure if he was still awake. Ryou wondered if the real Marik regretted ever listening to that voice telling him to let the spirit take control. Bakura didn't seem to have the same motives that he had before but there was still an evil in him that could return at any moment. He loved his yami more then anything but there would always be a part of him that would wonder just how safe he really was now. Had he really changed because he wanted to or was he waiting until everyone had let their guard down so he could take them before they even realized what was going on? Seeing Marik take his vengeance out now only made that feeling stronger and he didn't like thinking about Bakura that way.
Snoring made him look up and he saw that Yugi actually had fallen asleep. Ryou moved over to him and tried to wake him up but when he didn't succeed right away he thought maybe he should let him sleep. He picked the boy up and started to carry him in whatever direction his feet would take him.