Chapter Five
I'm so shocked by how many reviews this got last chapter! I guess Bakura and Marik really are that cool o.o
The men came back ten minutes later, looking satisfied with themselves. Malik, who had since crawled back into his cell, glared at the two harshly as they passed by him. He listened as their footsteps echoed throuhout the cold, dungeon-like room. He froze when a dark shadow stopped over his back, and he looked up, broken.
"You. Up." Croquet said, signaling with his thumb. Malik sent him a harsh look.
"Why should I?"
Nigiru scoffed. "You wanna see your little boyfriend before he's Changed, don't you? Besides, Mr. Crawford wants you two to be Changed at the same time. Thinks it'll be cute."
Malik cursed under his breath. He had to be there for Ryou, even if it meant his own suffering. "Show me where he is.
He had never been to this portion of the lab before, even though he had now been here over over a month. Malik wished he had about eight more sets of eyes; even though his building was a horrible place, the design and architecture was fascinating.
"Inside," said Croquet, and Malik was shoved into what looked like a normal enugh operating room. But then he took another look around and saw a stand in the corner with white steets draped over whatever was protruding slightly. Malik gasped when he saw Ryou lying limply on the operating table. He ran over to the boy who was now even paler than usual. The Egyptian turned around and glared at Pegasus, who had appeared behind Croquet.
"What the fuck did you do to him, you bastard!"
Pegasus shrugged as if the matter didn't concern him. "Hey's asleep, dear boy. Just as you will be when we Change you."
Malik hissed at him with pure hatred. "You better watch out, Pegasus. Your creations might turn on you one day, and then you'll really get it."
Once again, Pegasus shrugged unconcernedly. "Don't you remember, Ishtar?"
The boy's confident stance fell slightly. "Remember what?"
Pegasus grinned triumphantly, and advanced slowly towards Malik, backing him into a corner. "There is no escape. There is no way to defeat me. It's smart that you haven't tried to escape yet- you couldn't, anyways. You think I really meant what I said?"
Malik glared. "Fucking liar,"
"So harsh," Pegasus sighed in mock misery. "Really, you must learn to control your mouth. Now, we'll let you stay here for a few minutes with your boyfriend. Then it's your turn." He stepped even closer to Malik and smirked; their faces were almost touching. "And then you will belong to me... number nine."
Maik pushed Pegasus away with the strength that gives one only enough power to perform a miraculous stunt, then fall back into subtility.
Pegasus arched his eyebrow and moved back to where he had been beforehand. "Now, now, Malik Ishtar. Mr. Bakura won't be too different."
Malik's protective side seemed to overrrule the part of his mind that favoured logic at this point. "Don't you touch him. You'll kill him!"
"Oh, no, no, no. We won't kill him. But I will not let him go. He is mine."
The younger sneered, baring his teeth. "I'll fucking kill you! You understand me?! And if not me, then Marik!"
"Marik? Who's Marik? Your other boyfriend? Or your invisible friend?"
"Fucker, Marik is just as real as you and I. And he's coming to rescue me. When he sees you, you'll be lucky to walk away at all; he's not very understanding when it comes to people hurting me."
"And what about your dear little friend here? Doesn't he have a savior as well?" Pegasus taunted.
Malik smirked. "Oh, you can bet your ass he does. He's not understanding either when Ryou's suffering is involved. He's driven to people to asylums and even worse after they've messed with Ryou. So you'd better watch your ass, Pegsy, because the fires of hell are nothing compared to Marik and Bakura's wrath."
Pegasus, seemingly unmoved by Malik's threat, shrugged it off carelessly. "I'll cross that bridge when I get there."
Once again, a hiss came from the venomous Egyptian boy. "That's your own choice. But don't come crying to me when your mind and body are slowly and torturously being shredded into pieces so small that you'll die before we even get started punishing you."
"Hmm, well, let's wait for this Marik and Bakura of yours to show up... if they're not too cowardly. Then we'll talk."
But he had gone too far. Malik's anger was at the breaking point, beyond logic, beyond words, beyond control of any kind. He leapt forward and grabbed Pegasus around the neck, digging his nails into the skin hard enough to draw blood and (hopefully, thought Malik), cut into the artery. He tightened his grip and shook Pegasus' shocked head a couple times, banging it against the cold, blood-tinted floor. "DON'T - EVER - INSULT - THEM!" he snarled, lowering his face until there was nowhere else Pegasus could look except into his eyes ruled by hatred. He pushed his nails into the flesh harder, drawing more and more blood. "You know, I guess you were right when you said I was like a snake. I am venomous. And I will kill you." He smirked cruelly and removed his hands from Pegasus' neck, and almost gave him a sharp kick to the ribs when a whimper from somewhere behind him brought him shooting back to reality.
Malik pulled himself off of Pegasus. "I'll finish with you later. I've got more important things to see to that your own fucking self." He turned back to Ryou with eyes not full of hatred that had been there just moments before, but deep love and compassion. He held the boy's hand as he saw the surgeons entering the room as if they hadn't seen anything; Malik guessed that in the few seconds when he wasn't looking, Pegasus must have ran away.
"Excuse me, sir." Said one of the surgeons, "You're going to have to wait- and watch, if you chose- from outside."
He didn't fight it this time. Instead, Malik bent down and placed a gentle kiss on Ryou's lips. "Hang on, Ry," he whispered, "I'm right here... don't give up..." With a soft squeeze on Ryou's plae hand, he wiped away a few tears still lining the other's beautiful black eyelashes. He sighed as he left the room.
But he couldn't bear to watch his best friend go through that kind of hell. He closed his violent violet eyes, longing deeply for Marik to appear out of nowhere and embrace him like he so often did, or maybe even just seeing Bakura would suffice, because then he knew Ryou would be safe, and that Marik wouldn't be far behind. He forced his eyes open and watched as one of the surgeons injected a long syringe's worth of clear, almost ethereally sparkling fluid into Ryou's back. Malik could see a cut running through the pale skin. "Come on, Ry... You can make it... Remember all you've got going for you..."
"How endearing! You still love him!"
Malik spun around.
Pegasus, now complete with his neck bandaged up. Parts of the gauze were red; Malik guessed the cuts he made hadn't fully stopped bleeding yet.
"Of course I still love him. I love him for who he is, not what he looks like. Not like you would understand that."
"Hm. Well, let's see if he'll think the same way about you once we Change you."
"What the fuck do you--"
Malik's eyes suddenly closed in timing with his body going limp. Pegasus pulled the cloth away from the boy's face, snapping his fingers. Two new surgeons came and took Malik away to the next operating room to begin the experiment.
When he woke up, he was on his back in his cell and everyone -- he blinked, then looked around at the faces of Joey, Serenity, Yugi, Mai, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Mokuba, and Ishizu -- all staring at him concernedly. His skin was burning in pain; his face felt as if it might burn off. "W-what happened?"
But no one was able to answer him, for a sudden scream was heard somewhere off to his side. Ignoring the fact that his body ached all over with a fiery tingling, Malik turned over on to his side.
Ryou was curled up into a ball, his bare back exposed and severely red, his mouth open in screams.
"RYOU!" Malik shouted, pushing his way through Mai and Téa. He bent down until he caught Ryou's eye, which was difficult because the boy's chocolate orbs kept on opening and closing. "Ryou, it's me, Malik," he carefully wrapped his arm around Ryou's shoulder.
"I-It hurts... so bad... I can feel it burning..." Ryou leaned into Malik's embrace, eyes tightly closed against the pain.
"What hurts, Ryou?"
"M-My back...""Lemme take a look at it." Malik said, glancing over Ryou's shoulder at his back. Where there used to be a huge cut, there were now two white spherical shapes growing out of Ryou's back. The shapes sparkled and shined as they began to stretch further and further out of his back. The moment of mystery was shattered when a scream ripped its way out from Ryou's throat, causing tears to pour from his eyes.
"M-Make it st-stop... Please... It hurts so bad!" Ryou begged, his throat raw from screaming.
"Shh," Malik held Ryou tight in his arms as he rocked him; his eyes were glued to the rising beams of light from the pale skin. As he watched, the beams spread out a few feet. Everyone stepped back to give the light room to take its shape. The group stared in awe as wings began to form, glowing, shining. All the while, Ryou screamed in agony. He clutched on to the lavender fabric of Malik's shirt, crying in a way that made the Egyptian's heart break. "Shh. Ryou, it's okay... shh..."
"I want Bakura." Ryou said in a shaky voice. The wings continued to grow. "I need him."
Malik bit his lip; he knew his embrace could only serve as a protector for so long. "He's on his way, Ry..."
"I can't live like this much longer... this is killing me..."
"Keep holding on, Ry... keep holding on..."
Someone cleared their throat, disrupting the boys' conversation. Malik looked up to see the stony and determined face of Joey Wheeler.
"I know I don' know you guys too well. I know ya might not like me too much," he said, mostly to Malik, "But I gotta say somethin'." Joey turned to Ryou. "Ry, don't you dare give up now, man. You hafta be strong... you can't let him win ya. One way or another, we're all gonna get outta here. You just gotta say 'Fuck Pegasus, there's more important shit out there for me,' because, I can promise ya, he won't have much time left, what with all the shit he's pulled."
Ryou's whimpers of pain died off slightly as he clung tighter to Malik and listened to Joey's words. He knew the blonde was right. He knew he had to keep on going, for Bakura if for no one else.
Malik's eyes were still entranced by the four-foot wings now sprouting from Ryou's back. Feathers were starting to take as nerves began stretching up and into the spine of the wings. He hardly even noticed the way scales were starting to appear on his shoulders and arms, even his hands and face. It was a subtle change; the scales at their worst weren't excruciatingly prominent, but it was the fact of the matter.
"Oh, shit..." came Tristan's voice from somewhere behind Malik. Wincing slightly, the violet-eyed looked over his shoulder and saw Pegasus standing in the threshhold to the dungeon, as it had been dubbed by its inhabitants; Pegasus was wearing a demonic smirk on his thin lips.
"So, I see it's already started... Good, good." He turned a cold honey-orange eye to Joey. "Though I can't say the same about you, Mr. Wheeler. Pity, really."
Joey glared. Tristan and Duke walked up beside their friend, ready to fight the man who had caused all this trouble in the first place.
"And what do you mean by that?" Duke asked, smirking. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a die, the same die he had with him the first day he was brought in to the C.A.R.L laboratories. "You know, you really have to learn to speak more precisely. People might start thinkin' you're stupid, if they don't already."
Pegasus gave a sharp laugh, one that caused Duke's confident expression to slip momentarily, Joey to growl under his breath, and Tristan to ball up his fists. "You three really do amuse me! It's not a wonder my men all assigned you canine-like creatures. With the way you always group together--"
"It shows that we have something you don't." Joey spat, interrupting Pegasus. "Ya know, your way of tryin' to scare us is gettin' real old real fast. Come on, man, why don'tcha try being a bit more original? All this bullshit talk about how you're in such a high place and can do so much damage to us... Sheesh! In case ya haven't noticed, there's three of us and only one of you. I'd watch what I said if I were you."
Tristan nodded in agreement, bringing up his fists to eye-level with Pegasus.
Pegasus gasped falsely. "Dear me! You're all so cruel! I would never dream of saying or doing anything to harm you!"
"Bullshit!" Malik exclaimed, standing up. "Then what was all that crap you said to me the first day, huh? Well? What about all these stunts you're trying to pull now?! You're a fucking liar!"
Pegasus seemed to realize that he was far outnumbered, and that the four boys infront of him could very easily take him down and kill him if they combined their strengths. He had already seen what the dark-skinned boy could do without even trying; he didn't think he wanted to test the tempers and strengths of the three streetfighters. Maybe he'd made the wrong choice in bringing these four in? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he put on his usual smirk of superiority and shrugged. "What does it matter? You can't escape this place."
"We'll see." Malik hissed. "Don't forget what I told you before. You should only hope that I'm the one to kill you."
Sorry if the confrontation scenes were badly written. I'm not too good at those. I must say, though, that I loved writing the scene where Malik attacks Pegasus o.o Dunno why, but I just... did. I feel horrible for what I did to Ryou in this chapter. And to Malik. But I promise I'll get Bakura and Marik in here soon to get ridda Pegasus.
This chapter is dedicated to Fat Cat Buyo aka Tristan/Tris for being the only one to get the connection to the TV show at the end of the chapter. [Popes Tristan. Snickers]
x Shori