Beauty and the Beast pt.3

 The next morning, Marik and Yugi were peeking out of the bushes. Marik was spying on Serenity with his binoculars. He was dressed in a sleeveless black top, khaki pants and what seemed to look like a cape.
"Serenity's gonna get the surprise of her life." Yugi grinned. "What do you think?"
"Welp, it's her lucky day." Marik then turned around, noticing more and more people gathering about. Marik had set up a small wedding ground in her own backyard.
"I like to thank you all for coming to my wedding." He said proudly before grinning, his thumb pointing to the cottage. "First I gotta go in there and actually propose to her."
"Some went laughing hysterically. Others booed, thinking he was stupid.
"You Yugi," Marik poked Yugi's nose. "When Serenity and I come out through that door..."
"I know, I know!" Yugi took out a microphone. "I'll start singing," he then started to sing "Roses" from Outkast. "Caroline! She's mighty fine..."
Suddenly, Marik whacked Yugi on the head with a mallet. "Don't sing!"
"Sorry." Yugi was knocked out.

Meanwhile, Serenity was reading Pinocchio: A Goth's Version. The story was about a lonely gothic girl who was all alone. She created a puppet to keep her company who somewhat came to life.
A knock sounded off. Placing down her book, she looked out the window only to be slightly disgusted to see Marik outside her door. Before her hand could reach the doorknob, the door opened. Marik allowed himself to step inside, closing the door, grinning.
"Oh...uh...Marik..." Serenity smiled nervously. "What brings you here? Your presence is...uh...quite unexpected."
"Believe me Serenity," Marik took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs. "I'm always doing things out of the unexpected. You know," he kicked off his shoes, putting his feet up on the table. "I just had this exciting dream these past few nights."
"That's nice," Serenity placed a cup of water in front of Marik, taking her book off the table, placing it on the bookshelf.
"You see, I was married to a ravishing young girl. My little wife submitting to my every whim while the little ones play on the floor with the dogs." he leaned closer to Serenity, his face inches from hers. "About four or five should do."
"Dogs?" Serenity forced a smile.
Marik chuckled. "No Serenity. Children who will inherit their father's ability to send people to the Shadow Realm."
"How sweet." Serenity opened one of the cabinets, retrieving a cup.
Marik then slowly approached her from behind. "Guess who's the lucky girl?"
"Let me think," Serenity was trying as hard as she could to ignore him.
"You Serenity." Marik placed a hand on Serenity's shoulder.
"Marik," Serenity ducked past Marik, backing her way towards the door. "I...I'm speechless. I have no idea what to say."
Grinning, Marik made his way towards Serenity. He stopped a few inches in front of her, his hands on the door. He then started to kiss her on the cheek softly, whispering in her hear. "Say you'll marry me."
Serenity's face flushed crimson red as Marik kissed her. "Oh Marik, that's so sweet. But the thing is...uh..." her hand was reaching for the doorknob, twisting it. "I'm just not worth of your love." she then swung the door open, stepping to the side as Marik stumbled forward. He tried to pull himself together. Serenity picked up Marik's shoes, hurling it onto his head, knocking him into the pond.
Meanwhile, Yugi was playing the song "Roses" by Outkast on his radio. He was a bit too busy break dancing to that song. He felt a wet hand wrapping around his ankle. Before he could even react, the hand pulled his ankle, causing him to trip into the water. Popping up, he saw Marik glaring down at him.
Grinning, Yugi looked up at Marik. "So, how did it go?"
And at that point, Marik grabbed Yugi by the neck so they were face to face. "That little wench is going to be my wife. Make no mistake about that!" he then dropped Yugi into the pond, climbing out.
Yugi popped out, breathing heavily, grabbing onto the sides. Oh touchy." he watched Marik storming off in a very extreme pissed mood.

Hours later, Serenity popped her head out the door. "Is he gone?" she looked around before stepping outside. "I can't believe that pervert! Asking me to marry him. No doubt my father will kill me if I became Mrs. Serenity W. Ishtar." she shuddered at that thought.
Suddenly, a familiar horse faced by, nearly knocking her over. Looking up, Serenity recognized the horse belonging to her father. "Sasaki? Where's my father? Where is he?"
The horse gave Serenity a strange look. Serenity then climbed onto the horse. "You're going to take me to where he is."
About an hour later, they finally reached the castle. Serenity looked up at the castle curiously, not having seen it before. "Whose house is this?"
Suddenly, Sasaki went nuts.
"Sasaki, calm down!" Serenity tried to pull the reins of the horse. Suddenly, something caught her eye. Jumping off the horse, she pushed the gate open, seeing the familiar pair of glasses. "Dad?" Making her way towards the castle, the door had been left open. She allowed herself inside, looking around. "Dad? Dad? Is anybody here?"

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Mokuba hopped towards the sink. "Hey Tea, there's a girl wandering in the castle."
"Mokuba," Tea gave him a stern look. "How many times did I tell you to quit going to Bakura's room and looking at his hentai magazines?"
"But I mean it Tea!" Mokuba insisted. "I saw her!"
"I don't wanna hear another word." Tea pushed Mokuba into a sink full of soapy water. "Get yourself cleaned up."
"Did you see a girl in the castle cause I did." a feather duster swept in.
"You mean it's all true Mai?" Tea arched an eyebrow.
Mokuba suddenly popped up, shooting water from his mouth. "Told ya so."

In the office, Bakura and Duke were on the table. Bakura just stood there, pretending to not listen to Duke as the clock circled around him.
"We just had to invite him to stay, huh Bakura?" Duke gazed at Bakura mockingly. "Serve him tea. Sit on Kaiba's chair. Letting him read your latest edition of Hentai."
"I was just trying to be a good host." Bakura gave Duke a strange look.
"Dad?" A young girl's voice called out. "Dad?"
Bakura and Duke perked up as they saw a young girl passing by.
"Did you see that?" Bakura grinned. The two hopped off the table and out the door. Bakura was taken back at what he had seen. "It's a girl."
"What do you think?!?" Duke shot Bakura a dirty look. "I'm not blind you know!"
"Don't you get it?" Bakura started to shake Duke. "She's the one! The one we've all been waiting for. She's come to break the spell!" he then hopped off.
"Bakura wait!" Duke went after him.

Serenity stopped at an open door that held the staircase going up to the third floor. Hello?" she noticed that the hallway was lit by a single candle. "Look, I'm looking for my father." her feet shuffled up the stairs. "Is anybody here?"
"Serenity, is that you?" a familiar voice called out.
"Dad!" Serenity squealed, running towards a jail cell where Joey laid on the floor.
Joey looked up at his daughter, his fingers gripping onto the metal bar. "How did you find me?"
"It doesn't matter how I found you." she reached out to touch his hand. "Your hands are like ice. Gotta get you out of here."
"Listen Serenity, you have to get out of here."
"Who did this to you?" Serenity gripped onto the metal bar.
"Forget it! You have to go! NOW!!" the sense of desperation hinted his voice.
Suddenly, fingers gripped tightly onto the back of Serenity's neck like a vice. Picking her up, he threw her onto the floor. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Run Serenity!" Joey shouted out.
Serenity looked around the darkness, her eyes widened with fear. "Who's there? Who are you?"
"Let's just say I r un this place." The demon snarled.
"I've come for my father. For the love of God, can't you see his sick?!?" Serenity shrieked.
"Well it's obvious he came here uninvited." The demon was obviously ticked off.
"But he could die!" Serenity was getting desperate. "I'll do anything! I swear!"
"There's nothing you can do." Kaiba lit up the torch. "He's my slave now."
"There's got to be something..." Serenity tried to think of something. "Wait, you can take me instead."
"You?!?" Kaiba stared at Serenity in disgust. He then stopped, pointing at her. "You're willing to take his place?"
"Serenity are you nuts?!?" Joey was shocked.
But Serenity ignored him as she continued on. "If I did, would you let my father go?"
"All right, fine." Kaiba's eyes bored into Serenity's. "The only catch is that you'll have to remain here forever."
Serenity arched an eyebrow at the demon. "Show yourself."
Shrugging to himself, Kaiba placed the torch up on the rack on the wall. His face reflected from the torch as he revealed his grotesque side. A phantom mask covered one side of his face as he looked down on her.
Stunned, Serenity was horrified at what she was seeing. Her back pressed against the metal bars, feeling her father's hand on her shoulder. She then looked back on her father, a sad look on her face. Her hand covered his, unsure of what to say.
But her eyes told Joey everything. "Serenity," he grasped onto her hand. "Don't do this! I won't let you!"
Slowly, Serenity released her father's hand. She stood up, going face to face with Kaiba. "You have a deal."
"I knew you'd stoop to that level of insanity." Kaiba made his way towards the jail cell, unlocking it. Serenity fell to her knees, sobbing.
Joey ran to Serenity, placing his arms around her. "Listen Serenity. I'm old, I lived my life."
But before he could continue on, Kaiba grabbed Joey by the shirt collar, dragging him.
"Hey wait!" Serenity tried to reach for Joey's hand.
"Serenity!" Joey tried to reach for his daughter but had failed to do so.
After what seemed like hours, Kaiba finally reached the outside of his castle, still dragging Joey along.
"Hey you twit! Joey struggled against Kaiba's hold. "You could've had some decency and let me say goodbye to her!"
"She ain't no longer your concern!" Kaiba tossed him into the carriage. "You going back to the villages."
"Hey!" Joey started to pound on the walls around him. "What the hell is going on?!? Let me out!!" the carriage picked itself up and started trotting off.
As this was going on, Serenity watched from one of the windows, sobbing on the windowsill.
Kaiba made his way towards the tower steps, making his way back towards his newest prisoner.
"Kaiba." Bakura softly called out from the nightstand.
Kaiba looked up, glaring at Bakura. "What?"
"Well, since the girl's gonna be staying for a while, I thought you could...uh..." his lips curled into a grin. "Offer her a stay in my room."
To this, Kaiba growled, nearly blowing out Bakura's flames. He then brushed past him and made his way up the stairs.
Bakura watched as the demon made his way to the top. He then shouted out. "Or at least give her a good room!"
As Kaiba reached to top, he found Serenity sobbing on the floor.
"How heartless can you be?!?" she pounded her fist on the floor. "I never got to say goodbye and now I won't see him anymore!"
The demon tilted his head to the side for a moment. He clenched his fist tightly. "Quit your whining little girl." He snarled. "I'll show you you're room."
Serenity was quite surprised as she expected to be throw into the cell. "My room? But I thought..."
"Fine." Kaiba turned around. "You can stay in the tower." he made his way down the stairs.
Quickly standing up, Serenity followed Kaiba. Holding Bakura in his hand, Kaiba walked down the halls with Serenity tagging along behind.
Bakura noticed this awkward silence. He then nudged Kaiba on the head. "Say something to her."
"Uh..." Kaiba took a glance towards Serenity. "Hope you like it here."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "You're pathetic."
"Look, my home is your home now. Mi casa, Su casa. You're free to run around wherever and whenever you want. Except for the west wing."
"What's in the west..." Serenity started to ask.
But Kaiba silenced her. "Don't be such a nasty little wench. You sound just like your father. It's forbidden."
Finally, they reached one of the guestrooms. Kaiba opened the door to her room. "If you need anything, just ask my servants." he watched Serenity go in the room.
"How about inviting her to dinner?" Bakura whispered in Kaiba's ear.
All was silent for the moment as Kaiba gripped onto the doorknob. "You're going to join me for dinner little girl. And you're going to do it because I said so." he then slammed the door shut as hard as he could.

To Be Continued