Sorry for the wait! The fic is very near completion! There are two chapters waiting to be posted, but I'll submit them later because posting in two places at once is time-consuming and boring.
Okay, the asterisks didn't work either, so now headers are between the sections of the chapters. Sorry.
When Isis awoke the next morning, Malik was already out of bed and reading. Isis sat up and stretched. "Good morning, Malik."
Malik gave his sister a slight smile.
"Did you sleep well?"
A nod.
"Good, I'm glad." Isis held back a yawn. "Bakura-kun told me that the plan for today is to play a role-playing game of his at his apartment," she told Malik, "So we'll bring you over there around ten o' clock."
Malik pursed his lips tightly, met his sister's eyes and shook his head.
"…You don't want to go?"
Malik didn't need to respond; Isis knew his answer. She sighed and told Malik firmly, "I've already told them you're coming."
Malik broke eye contact and looked back down at his book, a scowl on his face.
"Malik, trust me. This is going to help you." When Malik's scowl deepened, Isis insisted, "Really. Yuugi and everyone—they all want to help you. If you'll just let them—"
It seemed Malik had heard enough. He slammed his book shut with a loud snap and headed for the door.
"Malik, wait…!"
Malik paused, not facing his sister.
"Malik… is this helping at all? Being here?"
Malik shook his head without turning.
Isis held back a deep sigh. "…If… if that doesn't change today—if you still don't think being here is helping you, and you're still uncomfortable—we… we can leave tomorrow."
Now Malik turned to look at Isis, his eyes wide.
"For the exhibit… for the exhibit, I can get someone else. But the most important thing is that this helps you, and if it doesn't… then I'm afraid it's just going to hurt you and extend the time before you can start speaking again. And the longer it is, the harder it will eventually be."
Malik looked at his sister with an empty smile.
"Don't look at me like that, like talking again is something… something ridiculous. You will start talking again. I know it."
Still wearing the empty smile, Malik turned away.
Isis sighed. "Try your best to enjoy yourself today, Malik," she said. "If it's really too hard for you, we can go home tomorrow."
At around ten o' clock, Malik was standing in front of Bakura's apartment complex. This time, Rishid and Isis left right away, and Malik climbed the stairs to the apartment alone.
Room 601, Isis had said. Malik rang the doorbell, and Bakura quickly answered.
"Malik! Come in, the game's all set up. Everyone else is already here."
Malik followed Bakura into a big room with a table set up in the middle. Yuugi, Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu sat on one side of the table.
"You sit over there," Bakura instructed, pointing at that end and taking a seat at the opposite side. "Since it's your first time, you need to create your character." He handed Malik a sheet of paper and a book called Creating Your Character. "Choose your race and class carefully. They determine your starting abilities."
Immediately, Yuugi and the others began suggesting ideas for Malik's character. Mildly overwhelmed, Malik tried to tune them out as he flipped through the book. It's almost like creating a deck, he thought. There are so many options you could use, so you pick the one that appeals to you or fits you best. After much thought, he decided to be a human illusionist. He handed Bakura his completed character sheet.
"Good," Bakura said, nodding as he looked it over. "Good choices. I'll just finish up your miniature…" He disappeared into another room for a moment and came back with a five-inch figurine that looked exactly Malik. Amazed, Malik stared at it, then turned his wide-eyed gaze to Bakura.
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" Yuugi asked. "Bakura-kun's really good at making those."
Malik nodded.
"But there's one thing I was wondering about, Malik," Bakura said seriously. "How is your character going to communicate?"
Malik froze, mouth slightly open. That was a good question. In fact, how was Malik going to participate in the game at all? From what Malik understood of RPG's, narration and communication with teammates was very important. There's no way, he realized. I can't play this game without talking. I would only be… inconvenient. Discouraged, he put down his miniature and stood, shaking his head to indicate his decision.
"Wait, Malik, you can still play!" Bakura protested. "Really! Maybe… maybe your character is under a spell where he can't speak, or something…"
Malik looked at the white-haired game master doubtfully.
"Just make up a reason your character can't talk," Bakura encouraged. "I mean, normally it's fun to make your character something you're not, but…" He handed Malik the character sheet back. "Just write whatever it is on here."
Malik thought for a moment, and then put down deaf-mute. He returned the paper to Bakura, who frowned uncertainly as he saw the words. "Malik, being deaf is a really big disadvantage in this game," he warned. "You can't hear what your party members are saying or anything." But Malik had no intention of changing his mind. Seeing that, Bakura asked, "Hmm… Can your character read lips?"
After slight consideration, Malik nodded. "Okay," Bakura said. "And since you're deaf, you've become skilled at sensing vibrations in the air or ground that tell when something's coming, and you have very sharp eyesight." He entered a few things on his laptop and smiled. "Let's begin!"
Yuugi and everyone placed their miniatures (all as accurate as Malik's) on the board, and Malik followed suit.
As the game went on, Malik followed suit quite rather often. After all, he couldn't really offer his own suggestions, and the others knew how to play better than Malik did anyway.
Granted, Malik had immediately had a very good idea of where to find the treasure they were searching for, an idea that had only occurred to the others after minutes of discussion and searching. But it didn't really make a difference—they'd figured it out eventually, right?
Suddenly, Bakura tapped Malik on the shoulder and slid him a small piece of paper.
You feel a slight rumbling under your feet and judge that it is either a caravan or a very large monster. No one else notices it.
Malik looked at Bakura in confusion. Okay, so he knew a monster or something was coming. What could he do about that?
Tell them, Bakura mouthed.
Malik realized that Bakura was trying to make him feel included, important. But how could he tell the others what was coming without being able to speak?
The only option was to actually act the motions out.
Feeling quite ridiculous, Malik stood and, with an inquisitive look on his face, placed his hand on the ground. He made his eyes widen and mimed taking out a sword.
Yuugi was the first to catch on. "Is something coming?" he asked intently.
"You can't answer that," Bakura interrupted quickly. "You aren't facing him, so you can't see his lips move."
Malik was, on the other hand, facing Jonouchi, who repeated Yuugi's question. Malik nodded in reply. Everyone drew their weapons.
"Suddenly, a very large monster comes out of the forest," Bakura narrated. "However, the travelers are prepared, which throws the monster off guard. The travelers get an extra attack each."
The extra attacks were just what they needed. Impressively, they were able to defeat the monster without taking any damage at all.
"Thanks, Malik," Anzu said with an exited smile as the monster fell.
And, oddly enough, Malik almost smiled back.
At one o' clock, they took a break from the game to eat lunch. As Ryou boiled water to make pasta, he asked, "So, Malik, do you like Monster World?"
Malik nodded, a very small smile on his face.
"You're really good at it," Yuugi commented. "I'm surprised how quickly you got the hang of it."
"You are doing well," Ryou agreed, turning away to get bowtie noodles out of a cabinet. "Especially for starting with such a big disadvantage."
Ryou was facing the stove, and wasn't aware of what was going on behind him until Jonouchi asked, "What's that, Malik?"
Abruptly, there was a loud ripping sound, accompanied by several gasps. Ryou whipped around, eyes wide in surprise. Malik was ripping a folded piece of paper into shreds, everyone else watching him disbelievingly.
"Hey, you can't do that to someone else's stuff!" Honda protested loudly.
Malik finished destroying the paper and walked purposefully over to Ryou. He dropped the shreds of paper at the white-haired boy's feet. Ryou suddenly had a bad feeling. He picked up a few of the pieces and studied them.
"Oh, no," he mumbled in despair.
"What is that, Bakura-kun?" Yuugi asked worriedly.
Ryou reddened under Malik's furious, accusatory glare. "It's one of the museum brochures."
By the way, Malik saw the brochure and wanted to look through it to see if there was a picture of Isis. But, uh, there wasn't.
Reviewtalk! Whoo!
Jieli: Koushari is Malik's favorite food. It's a vegetarian dish with uh… lots of yummy stuff in it. I could probably find a recipe for you if you like XD. And by the way, you had said "poor Malik" in your review to the same chapter as everyone else :D Heheh.A live action Azu would be awesome… but I would feel really sorry for whoever had to play Sakaki XD. Her hand would… hurt. Anyway, I'm glad this strikes you as so realistic :) Realism is my goal. Always.
Chaos: Yes… keeping things in makes them worse… much worse…… But I wouldn't say Malik's completely un-psychotic. Remember, it –was- him who wanted revenge on the Pharaoh for his father's death. I agree, though, Malik is so misunderstood. I love his personality so much.
Redemmo: Yup, Jou's just a regular comedian ne? Thanks for the encouragement.
Dirty footprints: Mwaha. Malik is my favorite too :) And I'm a girl…